Story of Repetition
by MiaAmerne
Summary: A new story has begun as the Raven's true daughter wishes revenge. However, things turn upside down as roles are reversed and memories are sealed. Will the heroes be able to overcome the story once again? Sorry, bad at summaries. Rated T just in case.
1. Act one: Beginnings

Hey! Me again! I have a new old story to share! :D Basically, I wrote this story last year so it's all done. So I'll be updating the chapters very quickly. I hope you enjoy!

I do not own Princess Tutu.

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

_Once upon a time, there was a man who died. He was a writer who loved tragedies. The townspeople feared him because his stories could come to life, and so, they killed him. Little did they know, he continued to write stories in death._

_Once upon a time, there was an evil Raven._

_Once upon a time, there was a prince who cut out his own heart to seal away the raven._

_Once upon a time, there was a duck who became a girl, as well as Princess Tutu, in order to restore the prince's heart. However, she was fated to disappear in a flash of light if she was to confess her love for the prince._

_Once upon a time, there was a knight who was fated to be torn in half by the raven. To avoid his fate, he did what he could to keep the prince from gaining a heart._

_Once upon a time, there was a daughter of the raven, who loved the prince with all her heart that she wanted him to love her and no one else._

_It seemed that this 'once upon a time' would only end in tragedy. But the characters decided to fight and defy their fate. The knight became a writer who could also make stories come to life, and combined powers with Princess Tutu. Together, they restored the prince's heart and put an end to the story. In the end, the prince took the daughter of the raven as his princess and left for the prince's kingdom. The writer, and Princess tutu, who returned to being a duck, enjoyed the peace of the happily ever after that they helped to create, together in each others company._

_What they forgot, however, was that with every ending, comes a new beginning. As they enjoyed the peace, a new story was already in the making..._

* * *

"Well, Uzura, it seems there is no story that offers any potential as a tragedy! It's quite a disappointment!", complained an old man in quite an odd outfit. The little girl who he had been addressing had only responded by banging on her drum. The old man sighed. As they walked on within the gears of yet another story, a huge gear with the image of a lake inside a cave lowered from seemingly no where.

"Oh! What's this? It seems we've ended up back where we started! I do believe that this was the stage for the wonderful battle for the prince! But I have no use for this story anymore, it ended in-" the old man trailed off when a new gear lowered in front of him. The new image was of an eerie island in the middle of the lake. The island seemed to be made of sticks and perched on a stick that stretched out over the water, was a raven.

"Hmmm, I have a hunch that a new story is about to begin! How exciting! It's quite a shame, though, that I can't offer my own ideas into the story anymore."

"Oooohh! A new story-zura? I should go see Ahiru-zura!" Uzura said to herself and ran off, banging her drum.

* * *

Deep down, underneath Kinkan Town, lay a lake. It had been used once before, as a stage for a part in a story that had already ended. Since then, no one had been down there. The only being that could be seen there now, was a raven. It was perched on the island in the middle of the lake, staring at it's reflection. In its red eyes was an angry sadness.

_It's not fair..._thought the raven. _My daddy is dead...and it's all because of those stupid humans that couldn't just accept their fate. Daddy was supposed to have eaten the heart...but instead....he died! If...if only I had more power, I could do something about this. I could get revenge! But...there's no way for me..._Just then, a pair of big round eyes were looking up at her from the water. Startled, the raven flapped around, cawwing.

"Oh, don't be afraid, little raven! Hahaha, I'm here to grant you your wish!" It was the voice of an old man.

The raven calmed down and settled back down on the stick she had been perched on. _What do you mean? And who are you!_

Despite the raven's question coming out in caws, the pair of eyes seemed to understand. "Hahah, I am Drosselmeyer! And I can give you the power to become human."

The raven's eyes narrowed. _Tch, what makes you think I want to become one of them? Those disgusting humans..._

"Well, the only way you can have your revenge is if you become a girl."

_Oh really? How so?_

"You see, there is machine, up in the clock tower of Kinkan Town, that was destroyed. If you can fix it, you can write a story with it to get revenge."

The raven cawed. _What can a story do!?_

The pair of eyes narrowed at the raven. "Oh ho ho, quite a lot my dear. That machine makes stories into reality. But there's no way for you to fix it as a bird."

The raven became quiet, as if it was thinking. One eyebrow from the pair of eyes arched up as if inquisitive and asked, "Well?"

_Fine. Make me a human._

"Hahaha very well. This pendant will make you human.", said Drosselmeyer as a dark red pendant floated down from no where. "But beware, if you caw you will become a raven again. But I'm sure you won't have any problem with that, hmhmhmhm."

The pendant floated down over the raven's head and rested around her neck. She waited a few moments but nothing happened. She was still a raven. She looked down at the water to ask why she remained a bird only to find that they eyes had vanished. _Tch, stupid old man._ She hopped off the stick that she was perched on and onto another one that was closer to the water. She dipped down to get a drink of water but once her beak touched it, a black light engulfed her and she found that she had fallen into the water. When she climbed back on the island she near fell back when she found that she had arms and legs and, well, a human body.

She looked into the water to see what she looked like. She had dark red eyes and raven black hair that only reached down to her chin. She looked at her reflection with a bit of disgust. "Ugh, hideous." When she heard her voice she gasped. _Huh, it doesn't feel too different from cawing._ "It's quite a disgrace though, that the daughter of the raven, Rhiamon, would become a human. Ugh." She uttered the word '_human_' with a hiss.

She stood up and began to shiver slightly. She was naked and the cave was quite cold. "Tch..I don't know how those humans can live without having feathers or fur. Well, I don't think it would be 'proper' to go to the surface as a human without any clothes so I suppose I'll have to go as a raven." She cawed and in another flash of black light, she was a raven. She took flight for the surface.

* * *

Down by the crystal clear lake sat a green haired boy with a pen and pad of paper on his lap. A yellow duck floated on the surface of the lake, smiling contently. It had been about a year since the story had ended. It was now summer and the temperature of the lake was perfect.

The year had seemed to fly by peacefully, but the duck couldn't help thinking of what she'd lost. After having a taste of humanity, Ahiru missed being able to go to the academy and dance ballet, hanging around with her friends...most of all, she missed being able to talk to Fakir. It would have been nice to just be able to say thank you for being there for her and staying by her side. But, since Fakir was sticking to his promise to stay by her side, she thought it was fine if she stayed as a duck. Also, she saw more of Fakir now since school was out for the summer.

Ahiru looked towards Fakir at the edge of the lake as he stood up. "Hey Ahiru, I just remembered that I have a package that I need to pick up. I'll try and come back as soon as I can." As Fakir started walking, Ahiru quickly swam to the shore and waddled beside him.

"You know, you don't have to come with me. You can stay here if you want." Ahiru just looked up at him, shook her head and quacked. Fakir smirked.

When they got to the post office, Fakir went inside and Ahiru waited outside the door. She sat there gazing at the sky when she saw something black flying over head. She squinted and made it out to be a raven. Ahiru quacked and jumped to her feat. _Oh no! A raven!...Oh wait, the story's over now so...I don't think the ravens could be plotting anything anymore...but well after what happened you can't be too careful I guess..._

Ahiru's eyes followed the bird until she saw it swoop down at a clothes line and fly away with a midnight blue sun dress. Ahiru quacked and ran after it. Soon after she took off, Fakir exited the post office, a small wrapped package in hand. "Ahiru?" As he glanced around, he managed to catch sight of something yellow run around a corner and out of view. "Ahiru!" Fakir ran off after her, tucking the small package into the crook of his arm.

_It looks like the ravens are still up to no good. Hmph, I wonder what it could want with a dress though..._Ahiru wondered as she ran after the raven. It wasn't long before she found herself before the Kinkan clock tower. Her eyes still following the bird, she saw it fly into the top room through a window. Ahiru tried to run into the clock tower to chase after it but ended up crashing into the closed door instead. She fell flat on her butt as she rubbed her bill with her wings.

Fakir finally caught up to the little yellow duck, only to find her sitting on the ground, rubbing her bill. Half panting and half chuckling, Fakir asked, "Moron, what are you doing?" Ahiru whirled around and jumped up quacking and waving her wings up and down. Although he couldn't really understand what she was trying to say, Fakir saw the urgency in her actions and grew concerned.

Fakir knelt down in front of her. "Ahiru, calm down. Calmly try to show me what happened." Ahiru obeyed and took a deep breath. She pointed to the top of the clock tower with her wing with a quack. Then pointed to the clock tower door. "You...want to go into the clock tower?" Ahiru nodded. She hopped in front of the door impatiently. Fakir sighed. "Okay, I guess I'll just find out what you're so riled up about when we get inside." Fakir opened the door and Ahiru quickly ran inside and up the stairs. Fakir followed.

* * *

Rhiamon landed inside the clock tower and dropped the dress beside a pair of shoes that she had stolen. Rhiamon had come prepared and stole a canteen of water that someone had been about to drink. She had narrowly escaped that situation without being hit by flying objects. She tipped the canteen over herself to turn herself into a girl and quickly got dressed. Once she was fully clothed, she looked around the room. A mess of wood sat by the wall. She assumed that this was the machine.

Examining the broken machine, Rhiamon frowned. "How does that old man expect me to fix this hunk of junk? I'm a raven, I have no clue how to fix human contraptions!" Just then, Rhiamon fell into despair. _I thought I could really do it. I had the chance to avenge my daddy but I've already failed! I want to avenge him! I want to...I want to...I have to!_ With that, Rhiamon found herself transforming. Not into a bird, but she found that she had gained new clothes. She wore a red witch's hat that had a crow's feather stuck in it and a black cloak. Showing underneath her cloak was a red dress that was mid thigh length and a black corset around her waist. She wore dark brown boots that cut off below the knee and black stockings covered up the rest of her legs.

"What...how did I?" Suddenly she could hear Drosselmeyer's voice.

"Oh ho, did I forget to mention? This pendant also allows you to transform into a witch. But you'll have to figure out how on your own!" His laughter faded into silence shortly after.

"....stupid old man. But whatever. I suppose he expects me to fix this thing with magic or something." Rhiamon hovered her hands above the broken machine and magic began to flow from her hands, fixing the machine.

Ahiru and Fakir finally reached the room where the story machine had been. In front of it they saw a woman who looked like a witch. In front of her, was a repaired story machine.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing! Who are you!"

Rhiamon turned around to face him. Her eyes widened. "You! How dare you-!" Before she could continue, a paper dropped by her feet. Picking it up, she turned around to the machine once again. "It's writing a story? But...I.."

As the machine began writing, everything became engulfed in a flash of light.

_to be continued...._

_

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_

Tada!! Act one finished! Please, reviews and comments are welcomed! Also:

Rhiamon's name actually means _Witch_ or something along those lines in...Welsh? ^_^; sorry, I found it in a baby name book which I recently...misplaced?


	2. Act two: Roles

Hey! Chapter 2! Well, just a warning, from here on, this is mostly a repetition of the original story in reversed roles until about chapter 7. That's when things change. But uh, I really do urge you to read the story! I tried to make the characters' personalities unique to themselves instead of just copying the persona of the original role.... if that makes any sense. ._. So uh here it is!Oh and yes, I understand that swans don't quack...I think they honk -.- but I dunno, in my opinion, honking kinda ruins the gracefulness of the animal in this context so thus, it quacks. ^_^;

I do not own Princess Tutu or the premise used in episode 1 of the anime o.o

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act two: Role Reversal

_Once upon a time, there was a man who died. His work was creating stories to tell other people. In defiance of his death, in his last story was a brave and beautiful princess who was supposed to defeat the Raven. However, now there would never be a conclusion to their endless fight._

_"I hate this!" So screamed the Raven.  
"I hate this!" So screamed the brave Princess._

_The Raven flew out of the story and the Princess ran after it. And then, the Princess took out her own heart. Using a forbidden power she sealed away the Raven. At the same time, "...Dark..." came the mutter from somewhere by the man who should have been dead._

* * *

In a pond, shrouded in mist, floated a little white swan. It was only a fledgling, but was still rather small compared to others.

A figure, dancing on the water, caught his attention. It was a girl with salmon coloured hair. The swan floated there, staring at the girl with longing.

"I want to dance with her too...with the princess." As the princess danced gracefully on the water, the swan continued. "But I'm just a bird. Just an odd little swan. I can't dance with her...or hold her hand." The swan stared at the princess' eyes. Something in them...didn't seem right.

"Her eyes..they always look so lonely." The swan decided to try to call out to her, somehow. "Hey, why won't you smile? I don't like seeing you so unhappy like this. Princess..." As he watched her, though, her image faded away until she was no longer there. The swan quacked sadly.

"Hey, hey. You're worried about her, aren't you?" came the voice of an old man. The little swan looked around, quacking, searching for the owner of the voice. "You, a tiny little..._swan_." As he said that, the gray atmosphere that the mist provided turned black. A pair of eyes appeared from the darkness, sneaking up on the little bird. As the swan turned its head to face them, the face and body that the eyes belonged to had appeared as well, surprising the swan.

"Ah!" A white haired boy gasped as he shot up from his pillow. He panted and ran his hand through his hair. "What a dream..."

* * *

After getting changed into his school uniform, Mytho, the white haired boy, walked over to his window, and opened it. A yellow canary landed on the windowsill. "Ah, hello there. I'm sorry but I don't seem to have any birdseed." As he said this, something caught his eye across the yard at the girls' dorm. A cloud of birds had crowded at one of the windows. When it opened, they all swarmed in. Mytho recognized that room to be the one that Ahiru slept in.

"Hmm, there's always birds out there in the mornings." Turning his attention back to the canary he said, "Why don't you try going over there? I bet all those birds are there for birdseed." The canary, seeming to understand, flew away, right into the open window of Ahiru's room. Mytho sighed.

"That was kind of a nice dream. It's rather odd that I'm always a swan in those dreams though. And her being a princess.." Mytho chuckled. "I think I have an over active imagination."

As he saw the birds fly out and Ahiru come to the window to close it, Mytho greeted her. "Good morning, Ahiru." Mytho closed his window as well once he heard the class bell ring. "Ah, better get to class." Mytho grabbed his stuff and ran out of his room towards ballet class.

As he got ready in the change room, he heard someone burst into the class room saying, "Sorry I'm late..." This he found odd since he had gotten to class at his usual time, when no one was around. Finishing up he walked into the class. Upon entering he found that music was playing and someone was dancing. That someone was Ahiru. It was graceful and beautiful, something Mytho couldn't do.

"Ahiru..." As she jumped Mytho had begun leaning back and ended up closing the class room door with a loud bang. Ahiru's focus seemed to have momentarily been broken as she was unable to land properly and fell to the ground in front of him.

"Ah! Ahiru! I'm sorry! I must have bothered you! Are you okay?" Mytho knelt down in front of her and offered his hand. When she simply looked up at him, he nearly gasped. _Her eyes...why? Why are they always lonely?_

Suddenly, the door opened behind him and Rue, Ahiru's roommate walked in. "Hey, I thought I told you to tell me whenever you're going out." Mytho stiffened when she entered the room. Ahiru only responded with a quiet, "I know."

"C'mon, get up. We're going."  
"Um...I can't really..."  
"Why not?"  
"My ankle is.."  
"Is it twisted?"  
"Yeah."  
Rue sighed. "Um, I'm really sorry." Mytho apologized out of the blue. He hadn't known that her ankle was twisted. On top of that, it was his fault for being careless. "It was my fault that her ankle is twisted. I distracted her by accident when she was dancing and-"

Rue sighed again and turned to Mytho. Her eyes narrowed at him. "I see. As a dancer, I think you'd know how important concentration is. Be more careful next time." Turning back to Ahiru she extended her hand. "Come on. I'll take you back." Ahiru nodded and took Rue's hand. They quickly exited the room, leaving Mytho alone. He sighed and began stretching, waiting for everyone else in the class to come.

* * *

It wasn't long before the classroom was filled with students stretching and warming up. Not only that, the teacher walked through the doors and to Mytho's surprise, it was a cat. Everyone stood at attention.

"Okay everyone, please be quiet...if you don't be quiet.." Neko-sensei's calm tone quickly turned into a darker one. "...if you don't be quiet I will have you MARRY MEEEEE!!!!" Since no one seemed phased by his threat, he cleared his throat.

As Neko-sensei began the lesson, Mytho's thoughts wandered off to the dream he had. _Her eyes...I have to know why they're always so sad and lonely. I wonder if there's something wrong?_ Miraculously, it wasn't Mytho who had been caught not paying attention. He had managed to keep up with the directions, although his form wasn't the best. The person who had been caught was a blonde-haired girl named Lilie. She had been gossiping with her friend Pique, who tried to ignore her so as not to get caught.

Once the lessons were over with, Neko-sensei announced that the special class would be dancing for them. As they danced, Mytho couldn't help but have his mind wander. _I still need to apologize to Ahiru about this morning. It was my fault after all. I guess I'll go after class._

* * *

After class, Mytho raced off to the girls' dorm to say sorry to Ahiru. However, he paused in front of the hedge archway in front of the dorm. After a few moments he started walking again. As he reached for the door handle a voice behind him said, "Just so you know, she's not here." Mytho whirled around. It was Rue. She walked past Mytho and opened the door.

"So where is she?"  
"Just go away." she said as she was about to close the door behind her. However, Mytho's foot in the door kept it from closing.  
"Please, how is she?"  
"She's fine. Now go away."  
"But, I have to apologize-ah!" Rue had kicked his foot to make him take it out. Once he removed it, she closed the door in his face. Mytho sighed and rubbed his foot.

Up in Ahiru's room, Rue had entered. The sight that welcomed her made her stop in her tracks. Ahiru was sprawled on the floor with a chair turned over beside her and the tablecloth from the table on her other side was piled on top of her. Rue sighed and rushed to help her.

"I thought I told you to get some rest." _At least with you sleeping, you won't hurt yourself more_, thought Rue.  
"I know, but I got up to open the window...and then I tripped over the chair." Ahiru explained in a monotone.  
Rue sighed. "You're way too clumsy, y'know that? How's your ankle?"  
Ahiru sat on her bed. "I don't know."  
Rue closed her eyes and shook her head. "That's why you should only listen to what I say. You won't get hurt as much that way."  
"Okay."

Back at Mytho's room, Mytho sat at his windowsill. He sighed. "It looks like I didn't get to apologize. I just hope that she's okay." Mytho gazed out the window at nothing in particular. "I wonder why your eyes are so lonely. If only someone like me could do something for her. If I could..I would. I'd do anything....." Just then, Mytho spotted a dark figure down by the fountain in between the two dorms. "What-?" Mytho ran outside but once he was out by the fountain, the man was gone. "Hmmm...that's...weird." Mytho gave up and went back into his dorm.

Drosselmeyer was there, Mytho just couldn't see him. "Hmhmhm, I wonder, do you remember, Prince? I wonder how this story will turn out...this time. Hehehehe."

* * *

The next morning, after everyone had left for school, Mytho stayed behind to go apologize to Ahiru. He was hiding behind a hedge, about to go make his move when he noticed the little yellow canary he'd seen yesterday up on the roof nearby Ahiru's window. With it, were two other canaries that seemed to be its offspring. The mama canary took off and one of the little ones followed.

"Ah, I guess the babies are getting ready to leave the nest." Mytho watched as the last one got ready to take flight. It started to flap it's wings and teetered on the edge of the roof. It steadied itself. "Oh no. Looks like that one's having trouble." Mytho, instinctively, got up to run over and help the little bird before it fell but stopped when he saw Ahiru at her window. She opened it up and stood on the windowsill. Mytho gasped.

"Oh no! She's going to hurt herself!" Ahiru just stood there in her night gown, watching the little bird as if to make sure it was okay. However, a raven flew by to make sure that it wasn't. It attacked the mother canary, making her change directions. Once the mother was out of the way, it swooped down at the baby canary and caused it to fall. Ahiru reacted immediately and jumped out her window to catch the bird. Mytho immediately ran towards Ahiru once he saw that she was falling.

"Oh my", said Drosselmeyer from behind the scenes. "Doesn't this seem familiar. This time the 'Princess' is falling." This time, Mytho seemed to be able to hear Drosselmeyer, as he kept echoing him.

"The princess?"  
"But the main character will die!"  
"Die?"  
" I do believe I know how this will turn out. But why don't we just wait and see. I wonder who will save the Princess? Hehehe."

"I will save Ahiru!"  
"Oh? Do you remember who you are?"  
"I am..." As Mytho said this, a ring with a red jewel set in it, began to glow. "...Prince Siegfried!"

Mytho transformed. His hair turned from white to blonde, and wore the princely outfit that he, unknowingly, had worn before. A blue longsleeve shirt with the striped ringlets at the shoulders and white tights. He wore his gold crown atop his hair and a sword hid in its sheath at his waist. As he ran, a cloud of pink flowers lifted him off the ground to where Ahiru was falling. Once he had caught her, the cloud of flowers descended to the ground slowly. When he set her down, she opened up her cupped hands to reveal the canary. It chirped and flew away.

"Me, saving Ahiru...it's like dream." Mytho mumbled to himself.  
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Ahiru inquired.  
" I am-"  
Drosselmeyer cut in. "Yes, who are you?" This simple question stunned Mytho. "Ah, have you remembered? You are a swan. Just a bird!"

Mytho's poise disappeared and he caught himself before he could quack. Mytho gave her a clumsy bow and ran off, leaving Ahiru standing there alone and confused.

Out near the lake from his dreams, Mytho collapsed, a swan once again. His ring slipped off as he fell to the ground. "I'm...a bird."

Drosselmeyer chuckled. "Yes that's right! In this story, you are a swan! Hehehehe."

_to be continued......._

_

* * *

_Yes I know! Prince Siegfried, really? But you try to think of something better! _ Please comment!_  
_


	3. Act three: Heart

I do not own Princess Tutu

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act three: The heart shards

_Once upon a time, there was a man who died. The story that the man told was about a beautiful, brave Princess, who defeated a cunning raven. When the man died, the Princess and the raven flew out of the story. In order to seal away the raven, the Princess took out her own heart. This was a forbidden power given only to the Princess. Although she sealed away the raven spectacularly, the Princess' heart broke into pieces, and was scattered here and there throughout the town. After this happened, in the town, stories and reality were mixed together and the village became a place where mysterious things were no longer mysterious.*_

* * *

Awakening, Mytho sat up. "Was that...a dream? Where am I?" Mytho was now in the misty forest by the lake that he had dreamed about. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes with his hands but he soon realized that his hands were replaced with wings! "What happened!?" Mytho ran until he got to the water's edge. There, he saw his reflection. It was indeed that of a swan's. He sighed.

"Maybe it really was just a dream. Being a boy and saving Ahiru..." Mytho sighed. "I'd rather think that this was the dream."

The water's surface became black and Drosselmeyer's voice sounded in the air. "Neither are a dream, Mytho." As he said this, his image came into view on the lake's surface, shocking Mytho, but not scaring him. "Who are you?" asked Mytho.

"Hehehe, I am Drosselmeyer. Do you want to save the Princess who lost her heart?"  
"Of course!"  
"The Princess was a heroine who fought against the demons and ravens in people's hearts...at least, that's how the story is dictating her to be, hehehe."  
"The story?"  
"Yes! The Princess came out of the story and lost her heart to seal away the raven! Her heart shattered into many pieces, scattered and lost. The only one who can return the Princess to normal is Prince Siegfried."  
"Prince Siegfried?"  
"If you're ready, I can turn you back into a boy."  
"Really? So then I can meet her again..."  
"Only if you're ready."  
"Yes! I'm ready. If I can return Ahiru's smile or if I could help her in any way, then there's nothing else I want. I have a feeling that I owe it to her somehow..."  
"Good, good. There's nothing better in stories than to grant people's wishes...a swan becomes a boy, the boy becomes Prince Siegfried! Ah, stories are so wonderful." Then, Mytho's ring was placed snugly on one of his wings. With that, he transformed back into a boy.

A boy once again, he noticed a breeze. Looking down he noticed that he had no clothes on and quacked. He turned back into a swan. Drosselmeyer's voice gave one last warning before fading away.

"But if you start quacking like the bird that you are...that's what will happen. Remember! Hehehe."

* * *

It seemed that Mytho had been knocked out once more. He awoke with a start to find himself just a bird again. Mytho rushed to see his reflection in the nearby water. The reflection confirmed it; he was nothing but a swan. "It couldn't really have been a dream, could it? I still wish that I could have helped Ahiru." Mytho jumped in the water with a sigh and began floating on its surface. As he touched the water, the ring on his wing began to glow.

He suddenly found himself under the water and quickly sat up for air. Mytho remembered Drosselmeyer's last warning. "Then...it wasn't a dream." Suddenly, a happy tune could be heard in the distance. Mytho glanced around the area until he saw the shadow of a person in the distance. Once they came into view, Mytho saw that the music was coming from a woman with porcelain white skin and brown hair who wore a purple apron dress.

"There is happiness for those who accept their fate. There is glory for those who defy their fate."

"Who...?"  
"I am Marie. I see you are Mytho."  
"How do you know me?"  
"From a story that should have ended long ago. The memories may not be mine, but they are still quite vivid...in any case, in this story, you are a swan. At this moment it looks like you've shed all your feathers. Please take these." Marie held out a Kinkan academy uniform for him to wear.

After Mytho had gotten changed, him and Marie walked the streets of Kinkan. "Something about this isn't quite right about this, I'm sure of it. I can't remember anything of being a swan...yet, I can't remember anything of being human. It feels as though something is missing." Still playing her music box, Marie answered, "The story was suddenly born. Its beginning was just a coincidence. Its ending is inevitable. An unending story is cruel."

Mytho stared at Marie. "You're quite wise, aren't you Miss Marie?" Marie stopped suddenly and turned to Mytho. Her lips were curled upward only slightly.

"Let us meet again, Ahi- Mytho."  
Mytho stared at Marie, confused. _Was she about to say Ahiru?_ Mytho shook it off and smiled back at her. "Of course."

As the two parted ways, Drosselmeyer stroked his chin. "Hm, I suppose my granddaughter will do. Without Edel around anymore, someone needs to help the story along in my place! But it seems that troublesome puppet's memories have found their way into Marie's body. Hopefully they won't cause too much problem."

As Mytho walked, he saw Ahiru sitting on the grass, feeding birds. As he walked by he kept his eyes glued on her, thinking. _I wonder if she remembers? Even if she does, she wouldn't know that it was me....ah, that reminds me! I still have to apologize._

As Mytho made his way over to Ahiru, she looked up at him. As he came closer the birds flew away. "I'm very sorry."

"What?"  
"Your leg...is it healed?"  
"Yes, it's okay now."  
"That's good." Suddenly the atmosphere became quiet. Mytho started thinking of how to start a conversation with her when an ant eater walked up beside Ahiru. _An anteater! ...Somehow, I'm not surprised. It feels like this has happened before._

"Ahiru...I need to talk to you." the anteater said. Something was hidden in her voice.  
Ahiru turned to look up at her. "Okay."  
"What do you think of Fakir?"  
"I don't know."  
"Do you love him?"  
"I don't know."  
"Well then, I'm sure it's okay if I go out with him?"  
"I guess."  
The anteater giggled. Mytho watched silently. _But isn't Fakir Ahiru's dance partner? I think I heard that they were going out. She doesn't care that the anteater wants to date him?_

"Why thank you, Ahiru." The anteater took off, probably to find Fakir.  
"Hmm, well I guess I'll be off as well. Goodbye, Ahiru."  
"Goodbye."  
As Mytho walked away, he soon ran into Fakir. Suddenly, he quacked. Running into a bush, he turned into a swan. He popped out and tried to warn Fakir not to go to Ahiru because the anteater might find him, but to no avail. Fakir gave the bird a small soft smile, one that was barely noticeable, and walked on.

_That's right. I'm a bird at the moment._ Mytho looked around for any water and spotted the fountain between the dorms. He ran over but before hopping in the water he remembered that he would change into a human without any clothes. Running back to the bush that he had transformed in, he found his clothes and brought them out to a different bush, one closer to the fountain. Quickly, he changed himself, got into his clothes and ran off to Fakir.

"Hello Fakir. I was wondering can I-" Mytho was cut short by the anteater. She was standing behind him.  
"Ah, it seems that I've found you, Fakir. I feel the need to tell you that Ahiru doesn't like you. She told me herself. And so, I've decided that you need a new girlfriend. Someone like me."

Fakir stayed silent, raising his eyebrow at her. The anteater smiled at him and waved goodbye. "I'll see you later, Fakir!" Once she departed, Mytho turned back to Fakir, who was now walking in the direction that Ahiru was in. "Uh, Fakir, I'm very sorry-"

"I'm not worried about that." Mytho stared at him, inquisitive as to why not. Fakir gave him a curious look and then closed his eyes beginning to walk again. "You're too nice of a person, caring about such meaningless things."

Despite the harsh words, Mytho knew somehow that that was a compliment.

After the anteater's proclamation of her and Fakir going out, it seemed that everyone knew about it. Gossip and comments were circulating all throughout the academy. Ahiru stood in a hallway with windows that overlooked the yard. Rue came up beside her.

"Aren't you upset? Fakir is supposedly dating that anteater."  
"I guess..."  
"Hmph, you don't understand other people's feelings very well, do you?"  
"I'm sorry."  
Rue sighed. "That's okay, Ahiru. I think that things are better off that way."

During class that day, Neko-sensei announced that tests would be conducted monthly to assess the students' level. After Neko-sensei finished his announcement, Arikuimi, the anteater, stood up.

"Neko-sensei!"  
"What is it Arikuimi?"  
"Is the special class limited to only five people?"  
"Yes, that's right.  
"In that case, someone will have to fall from it in my place." Her eyes glanced to the side, to Ahiru. Everyone's eyes followed. Apparently Ahiru was in the special class. Mytho hadn't known since the day that the special class performed, Ahiru was away with her twisted ankle. _Does Arikuimi have something against Ahiru?  
_  
"I will dance with my partner, Fakir." Even as she said this though, Fakir didn't budge. It seemed that he had no intention of dancing with her.  
"Fakir, I pray you'll accept her request to be her partner?" Neko-sensei urged. Fakir sighed and stepped forward, beside Arikuimi. When they began to dance it was clear that Arikuimi could call her bluff. She was as good as she had claimed. However, Mytho noticed something in her dance. _Her expression and the way she's dancing...it doesn't seem like she's enjoying it very much._

After their dance had ended, Arikuimi challenged Ahiru. "Ahiru, I'd like to see you dance a pas de deux. But, I wonder if there is a partner in here for you." Ahiru stood and Rue got up after. It seemed that they would be partners for the pas de deux. When they began, something seemed vaguely familiar about their dance. Mytho tried to remember where or when he thought he'd seen it before. He remembered that the dance that his memory was trying to recall was graceful and fun to watch, yet, it was also a tad clumsy. This dance, although it was indeed the same, was entirely graceful and although it was still fun to watch, there was a bit of emotion missing.

Once their dance had ended, the class didn't hesitate at all for applause. The dance was that wonderful. Of course, one anteater didn't seem to think so. Mytho was probably the only one who noticed her absence.

Mytho decided to go look for Arikuimi after class. Despite her rude behavior, it seemed to be a reaction of Mytho's. He always wanted to make sure everyone was okay. He found her and Ahiru by a gazebo in a forested area behind the school. Arikuimi had been yelling at her, it seemed, but Mytho had arrived after the argument had ended. Arikuimi was storming away and once she saw Mytho she just pushed past him.

"Arikuimi-"  
"Go away!" As she stormed off, the jewel in Mytho's ring began to glow. He chased after her and found her sitting on the ground with someone holding her. The person holding her bore a very uncanny resemblance to Ahiru.

"I know. It's frustrating, isn't it?" Arikuimi gave a silent nod in reply. His ring began to glow again.

"Could it be? Is that one of Ahiru's heart shards?"

Behind the scenes, Drosselmeyer seemed to be enjoying the events quite a lot. "Oh! I remember this part too! The first shard of the 'princess' heart! Oh quite exciting. How will this story end, _Prince Siegfried_?"

Mytho transformed in an instant. Although he knew that he had to transform to get the heart shards back, he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do after that. He had a sword at his belt, but there was no need for it in this situation. He didn't want to hurt Arikuimi. As he pondered this, an image of a beautiful girl in a white tutu dancing with someone appeared in his mind. He didn't understand how dancing could help at the moment but he decided to try it at least.

Mytho raised his arms above his head and created a small circular motion with them, extending his right hand out to Arikuimi. "Will you dance with me?"

"I refuse! You don't understand anything!" With that, the heart shard merged with Arikuimi. As she began to spin, the trees around them were replaced with stalagmites and the ground turned into sand. A tornado blew around Arikuimi, following her in her dance. Mytho tried to get closer to her but the tornado grew bigger and blew him away.

"Arikuimi, why is your dance like this? Are these your true emotions?"  
"Yes! My dance...I believe it should be something you can submit to!"  
"But that's not what dance is! Dance should be something that you yourself can enjoy! Your expression says otherwise. What is it that makes you this way; so frustrated?"  
"Ahiru...I wanted to beat her no matter what it took."  
"But those aren't your feelings. You know that." Mytho made his own tornado of pink flowers and as they clashed with Arikuimi's tornado of sand, both disappeared. Mytho stopped in front of Arikuimi and held out his hand once more. He knew it would work, as it did with the girl from the vision he had. However, instead of taking his hand, she slapped it away and began another tornado. Mytho, shocked, reacted by drawing his sword and placed it at Arikuimi's chest. She stopped.

"Search your heart. That intense feeling of frustration. That is not your own." Something, the feeling of being controlled washed over Mytho's body and he thrust his sword into Arikuimi's heart. He stared wide-eyed at what he'd done. Pulling out his sword, it wasn't blood that came out after, it was the ghostly Ahiru that he had seen. In fact, once she had come out, the wound in Arikuimi's chest closed up immediately. Mytho let out a sigh of relief. She was alive and perfectly fine. Mytho turned his attention towards the Ahiru standing in front of him.

"You must be..."  
"Feelings of Frustration..."  
"I see. Well, something tells me that you wouldn't want to be left here alone."  
"But, where can I go?"  
"Back to Ahiru."  
"Ah, you'll take me back? Thank you!" The heart shard took on the form of a small jewel fragment in Mytho's hand. Hearing footsteps, Mytho turned around. It was Ahiru. The heart shard floated towards her and placed itself in her chest. Mytho smiled at her and was about to say something when he heard Rue shouting for Ahiru. He ran away into cover of the trees.

"Ahiru!" Rue ran towards Ahiru. Ahiru began to fall over but Rue caught her before she hit the ground. "Ahiru, what's wrong?"  
"This feeling. My...head is hurting."  
"Feeling? What-?" Rue stared incredulously at Ahiru's hands that were placed over her heart...or at least, where it should have been.

_to be continued......_

_

* * *

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:D Phew! Chapter 3, done! I hope you enjoyed it! Also, just so you know, the Marie used in replacement for Edel, is the Marie from Tchaikovsy's, _The Nutcracker. _That's why Drosselmeyer refers to her as his granddaughter. You'll see why she's there soon enough :D Anyways, thanks for the comments thus far! Please continue to do so! ^_^_  
_


	4. Act four: Story

Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act 4: The story

_Once upon a time, there was a man who died. His story was interrupted and the princess lost her heart, and with it also lost the gentle feeling with which she treated people and the memories of her gallant fight. And then, the pieces of the princess' heart, which were scattered throughout the town, searching for a place to go, settled in hearts that had been cracked. Some of those people whose hearts were possessed ended up having their own stories thrown into chaos. _

* * *

Mytho was practicing in the ballet room. So far, no one had been down graded into the apprentice class but Mytho didn't want to push his luck and decided to try and get better so that he wouldn't have to be stuck in the apprentice class. Still, even though he wanted to practice, his thoughts kept roaming. As he looked out the window he saw Fakir. He was walking towards Ahiru who had a picnic basket in hand.

"Oh, I guess they're going on a picnic." Mytho sighed. Suddenly the door creaked open and Mytho turned from his practices.

"Hey, have you seen Ahiru?" It was Rue.  
"Why?" Rue glanced at him from the corner of her eye.  
"Because she went out somewhere without telling me."  
"Are you sure it's any of your business if Ahiru wants to go out with her boyfriend?" Rue glared at him.  
"Where did they go?"  
"I don't know."  
Rue folded her arms at Mytho and glared at him. With a 'Hmph!', she turned on her heel and left.  
Mytho stared out the window and sighed. "Can't she just be happy for them?" Mytho shook his head and decided to call it a day.

* * *

As Mytho walked through the streets of Kinkan, he pondered to himself about whether or not he should tell Ahiru the truth about his true nature. However, a happy tune brought him out of his thoughts. Looking around, he spotted Marie standing beside a building.

"Reality has a shy nature. If you get close, it will hide away. Reality can't stand to be alone. If you keep it away it will chase after you. Could it be that you are confused about something?"

Mytho walked over to her. "Hello Miss Marie. There is something..." The two began to walk together. Mytho told her about his predicament and yet again, Marie answered in riddles.

"Wind kindles flames and shakes the treetops. But flame burns down trees."

"Hm...I don't think I understand. I'm sorry. Perhaps if I walk around and thought about it...in any case, thank you Miss Marie." Mytho ran off and wandered aimlessly while thinking about the riddle. Eventually, he came to a place where there were quite a few trees around and a single tree with violets blooming on it in the middle. Under it sat Ahiru and Fakir. "Ah, I found them." He watched from behind a tree as they talked with each other but then shook his head. "What in the world am I doing. This is an invasion of privacy." Mytho went back to the paved path and continued walking.

"Fakir...we're out of water. I'll go get more..." Ahiru stood and ran away with the empty bottle.

"Hey, Ahiru!" Fakir sighed and shook his head as he relaxed against the tree. It took Ahiru a while to find it, but eventually she found a spout sticking out of the ground and quickly filled her bottle. Then, she hurried back to Fakir. However, on her way back, she bumped into Mytho and tripped.

"Ow...oh, Ahiru?" Mytho said as he rubbed his arm.

"Sorry." Ahiru apologized as she got up.  
"No it's fine, but are you okay? You should be careful!"  
"I was trying to hurry back to Fakir."  
"Fakir, huh? You really like him, don't you?"  
"I don't know. I don't understand what 'like' is."

"What? You-" Just as Mytho was about to question her he noticed a cut on her leg. "Ahiru, you're hurt!"  
"Oh..."  
"_Oh_? You mean you didn't notice?"  
"No...but I know what to do." Ahiru poured the water from the bottle onto her leg to clean it. But then she grumbled. "Oh, I guess I have to go get more water."  
"Hey, I'll come with you."

With that, Ahiru led the way and Mytho followed. They had walked quite a ways until Mytho finally decided to ask, "Where are we getting water?"

Ahiru stopped and pointed to a cottage restaurant not too far from where they were. On the front was a large porch with a few round tables set up on one side. "Oh." Ahiru went up the steps of the porch and knocked on the door. A plump blue haired woman was there to greet her immediately.

"Ah! Customers? Welcome, welcome! I'm the owner and chef, Ebine!" She stepped aside to let the two in. "Why don't you sit down somewhere and I'll be right with you!"

"Uh, but we're not customers."  
"...oh?"  
"Yes, we're just here for water."  
"Just...water?"  
"Ye-" Just then Ahiru's stomach growled but she didn't pay any attention to it. Ebine, however, made quite a big deal of it. Pushing Ahiru and Mytho to their seats she hurried off to prepare food.  
"You must be hungry! I'll just prepare a little something for you."  
"But, we didn't bring any money."  
"That's fine! Fine!" And with that, Ebine disappeared into her kitchen. As she left, Mytho noticed that his ring began to glow. _A heart shard?_

_

* * *

  
_

Back at the tree, Fakir waited patiently for Ahiru to come back. He was worried, though, that Ahiru hadn't returned yet. He let the sun on his face calm his nerves until something blocked out the sun. Looking up he saw Rue standing in front of him.

"Where's Ahiru?"  
"Why do you want to know?"  
Rue glared at him. "She said the word '_feeling_' the other day."  
Fakir's eyes widened for a moment. "What?"  
"So, where did she go?"  
"She went to go get water."  
"Ha, by herself? You're quite the gentleman." Rue started walking again, off to search for Ahiru.  
Fakir groaned to himself and got up. "Wait, I'm coming with you."

* * *

Ebine came out of her kitchen with two plates full of delicious looking food. "Go ahead, eat as much as you want!" As Ebine set the two plates down, almost immediately she went back to her kitchen. "Oh dear, I hardly think that will be enough!"

"Wait! We only needed water..." Mytho sighed and decided to try eating some of the food. It was cold. Trying a bit of all the dishes, he found that they were cold too, not to mention a bit bland. Looking across the table he saw Ahiru eating it up as if there was nothing wrong with it.

Soon enough, Ebine came back with another dish. Then another. And another. Each one was like the last. Tasteless and cold. Ebine kept coming back, pushing more and more food on them, however, Ahiru seemed to think it was fine.

Mytho stood up. "Ahiru, I'm going to go to the restroom. I'll be right back." On his way, he heard Ebine talking to herself.

"Dear, its been so long since we've had customers! I have to make sure I feed them a lot of good food. Dear, which one do you think would be tastier?" Mytho froze and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a tombstone outside a window. It was all very suspicious but Mytho shook his head.

_No, I can't jump to conclusions. But dangerous or not, we really do have to get out of here._ Mytho went back to the table and held out a hand to Ahiru. "Ahiru, I really think we should head back. We can get water somewhere else." Ahiru nodded and took his hand. However, Mytho led her to the door rather hastily, making Ahiru trip over her feet. She waved her hands around and grabbed onto the mantle nearby. But in the process, Ahiru managed to knock over a small white box. "Sorry, Ahiru! I didn't mean to pull you so hard." Mytho leaned down to pick up the box when he noticed the recipe cards that had spilled out. "These recipes..."

"Oh, you're not leaving yet, are you?" Ebine stood before him.  
"Yes, I'm afraid it's time for us to go."  
"No, you can't leave! You have to eat more and more! You've barely eaten anything!"  
"I'm very sorry but there's no way I could eat any more. I'm full." Ebine paused and then turned to Ahiru.  
"Well how about you dear? You look like you could eat more. What do you say?"  
"I guess."

Before he knew it Mytho found himself outside Ebine's restaurant. She was surprisingly strong. Mytho tried to get back in but the door had been locked. "Ahiru!" _I can't let her stay in there by herself! _

"Hehehe, the story is going into chaos again! A heart, too pure, that is possessed by a heart shard has been driven to madness. I wonder, what will you do about it, Prince Siegfried?"

As if answering Drosselmeyer's question, Mytho transformed. Ebine, thinking that someone was outside her restaurant, opened the door.

"Oh! A new customer?"  
Shaking his head, Mytho said, "Dinnertime should be over now." Dancing in, Mytho's pink flowers lifted Ahiru up out of her chair and into the air. "Please, rest for now, Ahiru." Suddenly, Ahiru closed her eyes and laid herself down on the suspended bed of flowers.

"Give her back. Give back my customer!"  
"Please won't you-" Suddenly, Mytho remembered what he did with Arikuimi. He tried dancing, just as the girl from his vision did, but it didn't work like it had for her. He then remembered when he'd thrust his sword into Arikuimi's heart. Perhaps that was the only way that Mytho could get through to them. Drawing his sword, he slowly approached Ebine, while speaking to her.

"What will you do when she doesn't want to eat anymore?"  
"I'll just have her eat more." Ebine backed away.  
"But why?"  
"Because! Isn't happiness being able to eat lots of delicious food?" Ahiru's heart shard appeared behind her.  
"Ah, so you are the one with the heart shard after all." Mytho said to himself. "You shouldn't be in her heart. Please, allow me to return you to your rightful home."  
"Never! I'll never let you take her away." Ebine took another step back as a boat appeared under her feet. It turned around and floated away into the air. "I want her to eat and enjoy more delicious food!"  
Mytho followed on his own cloud of flowers. "If you want her to enjoy your food, then why is it so cold? What feelings are you trying to hide?"  
"Feelings? Yes...I remember the feelings I had back then. The talk was light and the food was delicious. I remember when I would ask my husband which dish would be tastier and he would tease me by saying 'you're not quite there yet.'" Ebine smiled softly and closed her eyes. "But...I was happy then. Now that he's no longer here to cook with me, I became so lonely. That's why I want to fill the stomachs of the people who go through all the trouble of coming to my restaurant with all the wonderful recipes my husband taught me."  
_I see, so that's what she meant when she was talking to herself. It was as if she was talking to her husband._  
"You must be the feeling of loneliness then." Ebine fell to her knees and sobbed into her hands. Mytho took this opportunity and thrust his sword into her heart. When he pulled it out, the heart shard came out as well. Before she materialized into a shard, she waved goodbye to Ebine. "Sorry, I have to go now."

Ebine raised her head. "No! Don't go! I don't want to be alone again!"  
Mytho knelt down in front of her and put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll be okay. You have the recipes that your husband left for you." Mytho handed her the recipe box. "I'm sure that he wants you to continue to make delicious food, with his recipes. I'm sure he wants you to be strong; strong enough to overcome this loneliness."  
Clutching the recipe box, Ebine floated away on her boat and back to her restaurant. "Yes, I will make wonderful food. Hot and delicious food. Dear, I'll make a truly wonderful restaurant. Please, help me."

Mytho turned back to Ahiru as she began to stir. He helped her down from her bed in the air and returned the heart shard to her. He bowed and was about to take his leave when Ahiru spoke up. "Prince Siegfried, thank you very much." Mytho smiled at her and then ran off. Instead of running away, Mytho transformed back into a boy and hid behind Ebine's restaurant. He was about to come out of hiding and say something to Ahiru when Fakir and Rue came out of no where.

"What are you doing here?" Rue asked.  
"Nothing."  
"Well, what happened?"  
"Prince Siegfried was here."  
"Prince Siegfried?" repeated Rue.  
"Ahiru, that's nothing more than a fairy tale." said Fakir.  
_Did he say that Prince Siegfried is just a fairy tale?_

"He was given looks, courage, strength...but, the prince chased after the princess whose fate wasn't connected to his. The moment he confessed to her, he vanished in a flash of light." _Vanish?_ Mytho wandered away from the restaurant. _That can't be true...if Prince Siegfried is just a story, then what does that make me? A swan, isn't that right? Or...does that make me just a fairytale as well?_

"Hehehe, the Prince's tale is a tragic one, you know? Stories shouldn't always have happy endings...with any luck, this one will end the way it was supposed to!"

_To be continued......._

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* * *

_Phew! Chapter 4: Done! It took a while, huh? ^_^; Sorry if it doesn't seem to good. And also, I apologize if it starts getting repetitive soon. It'll be like this for a few chapters but I promise that it'll start changing in...3 chapters or so? ^_^; Apologies! Oh, and please comment!_  
_


	5. Act five: Sadness

Chapter 5, enjoy! ....yeah I don't have much to say right now...uh, let's see...yay! March Break!? ^_^;

I do not own Princess Tutu or any of the plays from which certain characters are referenced.

* * *

Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act five: Sadness

_Once upon a time, there was a sorrowful love that would never be fulfilled. But, a story cannot be born from that alone. The man who was supposed to spin that tale has passed away from our world. And so the love remains forever sorrowful as the story continues. The tale, no longer being spun, searches for a conclusion, wandering about._

* * *

Up in Ahiru's room, she stared out the window. Rue noticed something in her eyes. She didn't have the same emotionless stare that she always had. Now, Ahiru's eyes reflected something...it was almost yearning.

"You're thinking of something. What is it?"

"I have a feeling. I want to see someone and talk to someone but, for some reason, I can't. It's a feeling I'm not familiar with but I think it's called, _loneliness_? On top of that, I've been remembering times when I was, um, frustrated..." Ahiru paused for a moment to assure herself that that was the right word she was looking for, and then continued, "...at not being able to tell someone something. I also feel like I remember a time when I was lonely. But, in that memory, I was...a duck."

Rue was shocked. She was gaining her heart back. Rue supposed that with her heart and emotions, her memories would come back as well, but her being a duck? Of course, that had Rue baffled. However, her confusion couldn't overwhelm her fear and anger.

"Look, only do what I say, okay? And do you know what I say? Don't go wanting a heart. You'll only feel horrible; you'll only feel sadness."

"Okay, Rue."

"That's better."

* * *

In the ballet room, Mytho was once again practicing. As he practiced diligently at the barre, he noticed Ahiru and Fakir outside the window. They walked off together. It seemed they were going on a date again. Mytho sighed and remembered Fakir's words from the other day.

_"Ahiru, that's nothing more than a fairytale. He was given looks, courage, strength...but, the Prince chased after the Princess whose fate wasn't connected to his. The mooment he confessed to her, he vanished in a flash of light."_

Mytho shook his head. _No, it doesn't matter whether or not Prince Siegfried is just a story or not. Besides, whether or not that fate is true for me doesn't matter. All I need to think about at the moment is getting Ahiru's heart shards back. _Mytho took a deep breath to refocus himself, and returned to his practices.

* * *

Behind the school, at the gazebo, Ahiru sat beside Fakir with her head resting on his shoulder. "Fakir, there are so many things that I have no idea about."

"That's fine, isn't it? As long as you know who you're supposed to be and who you're supposed to be with."

Ahiru lifted her head off of Fakir's shoulder. "I...I'm a duck." Fakir gave her a strange look.

"Moron, you're a girl, Ahiru. Who are you supposed to be with?"

"...You?"

"That's right."

"But...then why won't my feeling of loneliness go away when I'm with you." Fakir stared at Ahiru, wide-eyed.

"Hey, Fakir!" Rue came running to them. "Ahiru, please go back to the room." Ahiru nodded slowly and hurried off. Rue watched her as she left until she was no longer in view, then turned back to Fakir.

"Fakir, you wouldn't happen to be the one filling Ahiru's head with memories and emotions, would you?"

"Tch, what makes you think that?"

"Then who is it?"

"Well, according to Ahiru it was that Prince Siegfried." Rue glared at him.

"I'm sure that that is nothing but nonsense."

* * *

Mytho was about to enter his dorm when he saw Ahiru standing at the gates. It looked as if she was talking to herself. Mytho took his eyes off of her to search for anyone that she might have been addressing, but the only people in the yard were him and Ahiru. However, when Mytho returned his gaze to where Ahiru was, he found that she was no longer there. He ran outside the gates and looked left and right searching for whichever way she went.

"Ahiru?"

"What? Do you have something you need to say to her?" Mytho turned around to find Fakir standing behind him.

"Oh, it's just you Fakir. I don't really have anything to say to her, but I saw her out here just a while ago."

Fakir looked at him, confused. "Well, no one came this way."

"I see. Then I'll just go search for her just in case." With that, Mytho ran off down the street.

"Wait...does that mean Ahiru is missing? Ah, that moron." Fakir ran after Mytho, joining the search.

They walked through the streets of kinkan together until night fall and still, Fakir and Mytho hadn't found any trace of Ahiru. "Where in the world could that Moron have gone?" Fakir asked himself.

"Um, if you don't mind my saying, don't you think calling Ahiru 'moron' is a bit harsh? I thought you two were going out."

Fakir blushed only slightly. "Well, it's just something that I always call her since she's always being so silly and clumsy."

Both Mytho and Fakir were confused by what he'd said. Ahiru, especially since she had no heart, was never _silly_ and the only time that Mytho had seen Ahiru being _clumsy_ was when she bumped into him while getting water. Other than that, she was always graceful.

"Why did I...? Something must be wrong with me today. In any case, 'moron', is just something I call her."

"I see...." Mytho and Fakir stopped. Ahead of them, walking across a bridge was a line of people all dressed in black. Each person had their heads bent in silence.

"Why do those people look so sad?"

"Can't you see? It's a funeral procession." Fakir pointed as two men followed behind the line of people, carrying a funeral casket on their shoulders. Following behind them was none other than Ahiru.

"Ahiru!" They both exclaimed in unison. They ran to catch up to the procession but a wall blocked their path on the other side of the bridge.

"What?" As they stood there, Marie's familiar music could be heard coming closer. Mytho ran back across the bridge to meet her and Fakir followed.

"Good Evening, Mytho, Fakir."

"Who is she? How does she know my name?"

"Don't worry Fakir. Marie is a very wise woman. She knows many things." Mytho turned his attention to the brunette. "Marie, Ahiru disappeared beyond a wall while she was following a funeral procession. Do you know what's going on?"

"Ah, a story of stories. Long ago, there was a maiden, beautiful in heart and figure, who fell in love. However, the person whom the maiden fell in love with, was of a different class than her, a higher class. A love that would never be fulfilled."

"Wait, what does this story have to do with Ahiru?" Fakir interrupted. Fakir looked at Mytho who had a finger placed to his lips, telling him to listen.

"..and so, the maiden took her own life." Marie continued. "Believing that if her love could not be fulfilled in this life, she thought that she could be reborn and fulfill it then. But when her fiance did not appear, the maiden took a substitute with her to the world of death. That is the sad story of the maiden from the story. In this town, there was a maiden with the same fate as the one in the story. She fell in love, as in the story. She fell into despair, as in the story. She took her own life, as in the story. And then.."

"The story came true?" asked Mytho.

"Stories do come true." She confirmed. "Truth and stories mix together, here in this town." As the clock tower chimed, Marie pointed back to the dead end. The wall was no longer there and a mansion could be seen in the distance. "The maiden's spirit is held in that mansion. Always waiting..."

Mytho nodded to Fakir, then Marie "Thank you, once again, Miss Marie." Him and Fakir ran off toward the mansion. Once they reached it, they found Ahiru standing not too far away. Ghostly white flames surrounded her and transformed into ballerinas. In front of her, the ground seemed to open up to reveal a ghostly maiden. Mytho's ring began to glow. _That must be the maiden who died and it seems she has a heart shard._

The maiden began to dance before Ahiru. She stopped in front of her and held her hands out to her. A small bundle of rosemary appeared in them.

"Giselle's rosemary... Moron don't take it!" Fakir ran towards her.

"Hey, Fakir!" Mytho called after him. Ahiru turned around.

Fakir began to dance. "Ahiru don't take it. She'll take you to the world of death with her. Come back...with me." Fakir held his arms open, waiting for her to come to him. Ahiru turned around to go, but stopped when she noticed that the maiden had begun to dance again. Fakir glared defiantly at the ghostly maiden and began to mimic her.

Mytho watched them both dance, fighting for the princess. Fakir danced desperately, fighting to convince Ahiru to come to him but it was clear that he was getting tired.

"No, I have to help Ahiru..." Fakir gave in and collapsed to his knees. The maiden moved to take her prize, dancing towards Ahiru. Fakir mustered up the strength left in him and charged towards them. However, the other ghostly dancers blocked his path and pushed him to the ground.

"Oh my, at this rate, little Ahiru will be dragged down to the world of death! Are you prepared to do something, Prince Siegfried?" Drosselmeyer chuckled as he watched the scene unfold. Mytho ran behind a tree and transformed into Prince Siegfried. Coming out of hiding, he caught Ahiru's attention immediately.

"Princess, I'm afraid that that rosemary is something that you cannot accept." Fakir stared at Mytho from his place on the ground. _Prince Siegfried! So he's not just a character from the story!?_

The maiden frowned and appeared in front of Mytho. "Who are you? Why must you disturb us?" Mytho bowed before her.

"My name is Prince Siegfried. I'm like you in a way. I'm destined to be disconnected from the one I love. So please, show me your dance?" The maiden hesitated, but nodded and began to dance in circles around the prince. Mytho simply watched her as she did.

"If you have the same fate as I, then why is it that you seem so happy?" The maiden asked in bewilderment.

"It's because I have many feelings in my heart. Feelings that overcome my sadness." Mytho put a hand over his heart. "Even if you take Ahiru with you, your sadness won't disappear, you know that, don't you? That's because the sadness in your heart is not truly yours." At this point, the maiden had stopped her dancing. She fell to her knees in front of him.

"I could never truly understand the pain that you went through...but I do know that you deserve to rest in peace. You shouldn't have to bear this sadness anymore."

Mytho drew his sword and brought the heart shard out of the maiden's heart. With that, she disappeared, and the heart shard formed in Mytho's hand. "I'm going to give back to you, an emotion known as sadness. It can cause pain and suffering, but it is something that makes up one's heart." Once the heart shard returned to her, Mytho bowed and ran off. Once he was gone, the area around the mansion reverted into a playground.

"The pieces of heart that have been returned to the Princess are sadness, loneliness, and frustration. All parts that a person would not wish for, are they not?" Drosselmeyer said, stroking his chin. "Ah, Prince Siegfried, I have a feeling that your method of returning happiness to the princess will only bring her pain! Hehehe."

_to be continued........_


	6. Act six: Affection

I do not own Princess Tutu or any of its characters.

* * *

Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act 6: Affection

_Once upon a time, in a certain place, there was a happy Prince. He knew nothing of a hard past. He knew nothing of a hard future. A happy Prince. One day, the Prince came into possession of a pleasant warmth. But what the warmth brightened, was not only tranquility, but unhappiness, pain and loneliness as well._

_

* * *

  
_

In the academy library, Fakir sat alone, reading a book. Rue peered around one of the shelves and walked over to read over his shoulder.

"And what might you be reading?" Fakir closed the book, irritated.

"It's none of your business." Rue stole a glance at the cover. It was titled, 'The Princess and the Raven."

"Oh, I see. You've taken an interest in the old Ahiru, have you? The Ahiru before she lost her heart." Rue said in a quiet tone.

Fakir stood up and took the book with him. "What of it? Are you trying to imply something?"

Rue's eyes narrowed. "Well? Do you deny it?"

Fakir glanced back at her. "Yes, actually."

"Then who do you expect me to believe is returning Ahiru's heart?"

"Would you believe...Prince Siegfried?"

Rue raised an eyebrow. "And what would make you say that? You know that's just part of the story."  
Fakir smirked at her. "Are you sure?"

* * *

During class, Mytho overheard two air headed girls, Pique and Lillie, gossiping. From what Mytho could gather, they were talking about a special event called the Fire Festival. It was an event where the townspeople would dress up in traditional costumes and people would choose partners to dance with. The best couple would be awarded with a golden apple. It was rumored that if you won the golden apple, you and your partner would be tied together, forever.

Mytho thought about this as he made his way to one of the unused practice rooms. For Mytho, the Fire festival didn't mean much. Somehow, he knew that Ahiru would end up going with Fakir. Besides, according to the story, his fate was unconnected with hers. Despite that, though, Mytho was practicing just in case a miracle happened and he was to be paired with Ahiru...or with anyone for that matter. If he was paired with anyone, he didn't want his partner to feel embarrassed by him.

Mytho quietly opened the door to one of the rooms. When he peered in, Ahiru was standing by the window dressed in a royal blue dress. The Ahiru standing there, indeed, looked like someone who would've been a Princess from a fairytale. Ahiru, who noticed his entry, turned from the window to stare at him.

"Mytho? Have you seen Fakir?" Ahiru asked as she walked towards him. Mytho stared at her inquisitively. "Fakir asked me if I wanted to practice for the festival tonight. We agreed that we would meet here so I've been waiting."

"Oh..." Suddenly, Ahiru performed an action that seemed all too familiar to Mytho, as if he'd seen it done a million times. She lifted her hands above her head and circled them, then extending her right hand out in front of her to Mytho.

"Please, will you dance with me?" Mytho was taken by surprise but was all too happy to oblige. He grabbed her hand but found that Ahiru seemed to be leading their dance which wasn't too surprising, seeing as he wasn't as good as her. As they danced though, Ahiru spoke to him.

"I...I don't like being alone. When I'm lonely, I also feel sad." When their dance ended, Ahiru added, "Thank you for being here."

Mytho smiled but then realized something. The words she said to him as they danced. _"I don't like being alone. When I'm lonely, I also feel sad." _

Her heart, her new found emotions made her feel that way. Mytho felt somewhat guilty since he was responsible for giving back these emotions. However, knowing that it would ultimately lead to Ahiru regaining her smile and true self reassured him.

As they stood there, Rue had been watching from outside. Her eyes narrowed. "What's she doing with him? She shouldn't be dancing around with random people. Especially not with my Mytho." Rue gasped. Had she just said _my_ Mytho? But, she hardly knew him. As she thought about this, a feeling began to arise in her. _What? What is this...feeling? Am I jealous? But of who? Of that Mytho? Or...of Ahiru? But, that can't be right! why would I be jealous of Ahiru dancing with him? Like I said, I don't know him at all..._

Rue shook her head and left those thoughts for another time, heading for the 'unused' room. When she entered the hallway that led to that room, she saw Mytho, who had just exited it. He stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway and muttered to himself, "Oh, I forgot about practicing."

"Hey!" called Rue. Surprised, Mytho quacked and ran around the corner before he turned into a bird. Rue simply stared after him and shook her head. She headed into the practice room where Ahiru stood by the window once more. Mytho, still a swan, hurried to listen at the door.

"What were you doing with that...boy? And why in the world are you dressed like that?" questioned Rue harshly.

"Well, we're supposed to dress like this for the festival and Fakir said that this dress was okay."

"Don't you remember what I said? Only listen to me, not anyone else, not even Fakir. It'll be better that way. Not only that, what is with that boy? Why were you dancing with him?"

"I asked him to dance because Fakir hadn't come yet."

"What? Ugh, just listen. Stay away from Fakir and that Mytho boy, too."

"Okay...but I don't want Fakir to wait for me all night, so I'll just go tell him that-" Rue grabbed Ahiru's wrist and pulled her towards the door. Mytho heard the footsteps coming closer and hurried around the corner again. As the two exited the room, Rue scolded Ahiru, "What did I just say!? If you won't do what I say then I'll have to keep you away from them both myself."

Mytho hurried back into the room to watch where they went off to from the window. It seemed that they were headed to the library. Mytho hurried out of the room to jump in the fountain and run into the library when he saw Fakir heading to the room that Ahiru had been waiting for him in. He was wearing similar attire as Ahiru. He looked down when he noticed Mytho.

"Oh, it's you again. The swan from before...Hey, what are you doing with that school uniform?" He was about to bend down to untie the uniform from around Mytho's neck but Mytho ran away before Fakir could get his hands on him. Fakir stared after the little bird as it ran outside.

Once Mytho turned himself back into a boy, he ran into the library and investigated. Watching from behind a wall, Mytho found Rue coming out from a dark room. She closed the door on Ahiru and locked it.

"Why are you doing such things?" Mytho came out from behind the wall and ran to the door, jiggling the handle in an attempt to open it. "Ahiru, I'll find a way to get you out of there. Fakir's waiting for you, you know? Don't you want to show off your new emotions to him? Urg, come on..." At the mention of emotions, Rue pushed Mytho away from the door.

"Her emotions? How do you know about that?" Rue paused, as if realizing something. "You! You know about Ahiru being the Princess from the story, don't you! Hmph, well, no matter. Just know that Ahiru doesn't need a heart. So please, just leave her alone."

"No need for a heart? How can you say that? I know for a fact that she needs it back... I know that she must _want_ it back!" Rue slapped him across the face, but once the action had been done, her eyes widened. _Why...I feel horrible for hitting him. Why?_ Despite her confusing guilt, Rue's anger returned.

"And how can you know!?" Mytho was shocked. He wasn't quite sure how he knew. It was just a feeling but he felt as though he'd gone through something like that before. But, of course to Mytho, that would have been impossible. He looked away.

"I just know. Don't you think it would be horrible, not being able to feel happy, or love someone or not be able to laugh." Rue narrowed her eyes at him and then, reluctantly this time, slapped him once more and then walked away. "It won't matter if she gets her heart back. If she does...I'll just find a way to make it go away again."

* * *

Inside the dark room, Ahiru was curled up against the wall, somewhat listening to their argument. She felt sad, being alone in the dark and not being able to tell Fakir that she wasn't coming. This emotion, it made her remember a time just like this. She held a deep sadness in her heart then, and she was curled up in the darkness, just like now. However, she wasn't in a store room. In her memory, it looked like she was at the bottom of a lake.

Every time Ahiru got a piece of her heart back, she realized that she wouldn't only get an emotion back, she'd get a memory too. So far, she'd gotten a memory of her being frustrated because there was something, a secret, that she wasn't able to tell. Another memory was of her being lonely. This one made little sense to her at the moment because she was a little yellow duck in this one. She would be walking beside Fakir, and then she'd see some people from the academy, talking and laughing as they walked to school. She'd feel lonely because she couldn't talk with them, or laugh with them, or do anything with them because of what she was. Then, her latest memory...one of sadness. So far, she couldn't piece any of the memories together. They were quite vague and didn't link together very well.

As Ahiru thought about this, she heard a voice giggling softly. When she looked up, she found that a passage had opened in the floor. The voice she heard giggling spoke to her.

"Are you afraid of the dark? It's okay. I'm here."

* * *

Mytho stood there, outside the door, confused. He was beginning to be doubtful of himself. Just how did he know that Ahiru wanted her heart back. What if she didn't and he was giving her heart back against her will. But she did seem to be grateful to him....

Once again, Marie's song was playing outside the library. Mytho headed out to meet her. By now, Mytho knew better than to ignore Marie. She usually had very helpful information to give, as cryptic as they came. Before Mytho had even gotten to her, Marie already seemed to know about his situation as she began to give him her advice.

"A flame brightens the darkness. But without darkness the radiance does nothing. Are you afraid of the dark?" When Mytho gave no answer, Marie continued. "You are in the darkness of confusion, am I correct? But if you want to shine for someone else, you cannot be afraid of the dark."

Mytho smiled. "Ah I see. You're saying that if I want to be of any help at all, then I can't be afraid of things I don't know. Thank you Miss Marie, wise as always." She smiled back slightly and then pointed to a window that had a hole in it.

"A path is now open for you." Mytho nodded and turned into a swan to climb in through the hole. As he squeezed through he noticed that Ahiru was no longer there.

"Where did she go?" Once Mytho was able to get in, he fell to the ground and accidentally opened up the passage beneath him. Not knowing that the passage was there in the first place, Mytho tumbled down the stairs that it opened up to. However, mid-bounce, Mytho flapped his wings and managed to steadily flutter his way to the next step beneath him. From there he hopped, step by step, to the bottom. There, Mytho spotted a puddle of water. Transforming himself and quickly changing into his uniform, he heard a giggle. Once the voice vanished, his ring began to glow.

"There's a heart shard here." Mytho decided to walk through the dark passageways that lit up as he went until he found the person leading him on. Once again, he heard the giggle. "Who's there?"

The only answer that Mytho got was a riddle. "Even though I'm small, I am spread throughout a room. Who am I?" As Mytho walked he reached a part where the passage split into two halls. At first they were both lit, but as he came closer, one of the passageways' torches were snuffed out. Mytho was about to head into the lit one until he heard the voice giggle again. It came from the other hall. Mytho remembered Marie's words.

"I suppose she had an idea that something like this would happen." Mytho smiled and ran through the dark hall. As he ran he tried to deduce an answer to the riddle, but could not think of anything.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know!" Mytho called out, answering the voice.

The voice giggled again. "Okay. Why don't we try again? I'm a white snake that swallows the ocean, but my head is all red. Who am I?" Mytho pressed on, watching out for any unlit tunnels to guide him. Once again, Mytho was stumped.

"I'm sorry! I still don't know!"

"Okay, one more try! The longer I stand, the shorter I get. Who am I?" As Mytho turned into a dark room, he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I just don't know." The voice giggled once more.

"Oh well. But good job. You've found the person you're looking for."

"What? Where? Please, let her go!" Mytho became uneasy as the door he had entered from was suddenly blocked by cement.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that. I can't let you go, either. But don't be afraid...I'll be here with you." Mytho transformed into Prince Siegfried. As he stepped forward, he was surrounded by flames, as if they were standing on invisible candlewicks. "Who are you?" the voice asked.

"My name is Prince Siegfried."

"Hey...would you stay here forever and dance for me? If you do, I'll promise to shine for you."

"Shine for me?"

"Yes."

"Oh, I understand now. The answer to all your riddles. Something small that is spread throughout a room is a lamp's light. The white snake that swallows the ocean and has a red head, and the thing that gets smaller the longer it stands are a lamp's wick. You're a lamp."

"Good job." The flames combined in front of him to create the figure of a translucent little girl. Behind her stood Ahiru's heart shard.

"Please, give back Ahiru and the piece of heart that you hold."

"I'm sorry. I can't do that." The piece of heart disappeared. Mytho decided to do what he'd done with all the others that had a heart shard. He would allow them to dance while he talked to them.

"Please, won't you dance for me?" He asked.

"Me?" Mytho nodded. The girl disappeared and a light overhead lit the area around Mytho, a spotlight. "Why don't you dance? I'll shine for you." Mytho nodded and began hesitantly. The last time he tried this, it had failed.

"Your light. It's warm and pleasant. So why won't you let us go?"

"It's just...I want to shine for someone. I want nothing more than to wrap someone in my warm light. I'd be happy to do just that. But the people who I was happy to shine for forgot about me. I became useless, unwanted. I thought that they were happy just to be in my light. But now, there's someone who wants my light again."

A light in one side of the room lit up. Mytho looked in that direction to find Ahiru asleep on a table, holding a lamp in her arms.

"But, are you sure that it's okay to lock her up here?"

"Yes." The light appeared over Ahiru, embracing her. "That way, I'll be able to shine for her...forever."

"But don't you remember when you shone for everyone?"

The girl appeared before Mytho once again. "Yes, I remember."

"Then you know that you can't just force your light on others. It's sad that the people who were precious to you no longer need your light, but I'm sure that they were very happy when they did. Even though it can't be helped that you are no longer needed by them, I at least still adore your light. So please, will you return Ahiru's heart shard? I believe that that will make her happy."

"Really...well, Prince Siegfried, I would like to shine for you some more, but when your friend regains her heart, would you mind returning me to her? I feel that in a past life, or a different time, she was the one who cared for me and took me in. I would love to remember that time."

Mytho was confused at this. Ahiru had taken in this lamp before? In any case, Mytho nodded. The girl smiled and then disappeared. Ahiru's heart shard appeared in her place.

"I am the feeling of affection, the one who had been forgotten." Mytho smiled as she materialized into a shard and then floated off towards Ahiru. She awoke to the sight of Mytho.

"Come now. I do believe that someone is waiting for you, Princess."

* * *

At the plaza, Fakir was just about to leave. The festival had ended not too long ago but Fakir waited just in case Ahiru was on her way. When he turned around, Ahiru was standing there. Fakir looked away, eyes closed in annoyance.

"Moron, you're late. The festival ended already." Ahiru ran to Fakir and hugged him. Fakir's eyes opened wide and a blush appeared on his face.

"I'm really sorry." When Ahiru looked up, Fakir looked down at her with a soft smile on his face. But something made the rare smile fade away. That look on her face, her gentle eyes. Fakir broke away from their embrace and took Ahiru by the wrist and pulled her along in silence toward the dorms.

_to be continued....._

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_

Oh my, it looks like some characters are starting to remember! Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Please comment and review!_  
_


	7. Act seven: Fear

I do not own Princess Tutu!

Thank you very much to everyone who has commented so far! I'm glad to see that people like it! So, please enjoy chapter 7!

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act 7: Of fears and doubt

_Once upon a time, there appeared a young person who wished to awaken a princess who had fallen into an eternal slumber, caused by a witch's curse. However, someone whispered, "Waking the princess from her sleep, how cruel. Maybe what the princess wants is not a kiss to wake her, but to stay asleep for all eternity."_

_

* * *

  
_

Ahiru got up from the floor after being attacked by the normal crowd of birds she left food for every morning. Brushing herself off, she heard Rue sigh behind her.

"I don't understand why you do that every morning. How can you stand being attacked by all those birds and feeding them all the time?"

"I don't know. It's a...habit." Ahiru turned around. "Say, Rue? I think I understand one of the things I feel about everyone. You, Fakir and even Mytho. I think it's a feeling called...affection. Not only that, I remembered something last night. I remembered a time when Fakir held affection for me _and_ Mytho, and you were _very_ affectionate towards Mytho..."

Rue grew confused. "Look, just try to remember this. You have no need for emotions, no need to understand them. You have no need for those _weird_ memories of yours either, so just put them all at the back of your head, understand?"

Ahiru nodded her head sadly. "Okay."

* * *

Recently, a ballet troupe had been advertising their show of 'sleeping beauty' all over Kinkan town. Many people were gathered around a flier, posted on the wall of the theater. A lady with short black hair stepped out of the building and onto the front steps wearing a white and pink tutu. It was very likely that she was one of the performers.

"We are the Eleki Troupe ballet company. Starting the day after tomorrow, we will be performing Sleeping Beauty in this theater. I hope that you will all come to see us perform!" She touched her fingertips to her lips and flourished her hand out to the audience before her. Since much of the crowd was made of men, that action alone seemed to capture their attention, not to mention that the woman herself was pretty enough to be a princess. Throwing fliers out among the crowd she added, "Please, come, okay?"

The appearance of the Eleki Troupe seemed to be a big thing in Kinkan town. Many of the students had been talking about it that morning. Even Neko-sensei seemed to be quite excited as he made yet another announcement to the class. Apparently, everyone was going to go watch the Eleki Troupe practice. Along with getting to watch them practice, the students were able to get a tour of sorts. They were allowed to wander around and ask questions about the costumes, the backgrounds, all the setup and whatever else there was to ask about.

With all the excitement of being around the troupe, time seemed to go by in a flash. Before anyone knew it, it was time for the troupe to practice. All the students sat down in the audience and watched as the lead performer, Paulamoni, danced across the stage. She seemed to be doing fine until she stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" her husband asked.

"Ah, nothing. I'm really sorry about that."

"Then let's continue." Her husband resumed the steady beat he'd been clapping for her.

"But isn't it boring to just watch? So why don't we ask one of the students to dance instead?" All the students began to chat amongst themselves, wondering about who would volunteer or be chosen to dance, or why she had suddenly asked. Paulamoni's husband came on stage beside her.

"Paulamoni, don't you think this is a bit sudden?"

"I'm sure it's fine. I'd like to see them."  
"It's quite fine, I assure you." Neko-sensei confirmed. "We'd be happy to show you the fruits of our lessons. So, any volunteers?" he called out. No one was brave enough to get up on stage. As Neko-sensei waited for an answer, Paulamoni searched her thoughts.

_I don't understand. I've always been anxious, up on the stage. But, it has never been that bad._ Her memories took her back to a performance of sleeping beauty that she had seen a long time ago. _Ever since then, I've always wanted to play the princess Aurora. I wanted to present her as a princess who kept on dreaming even after she awoke...but, no matter how much I practiced I knew that it would be a dream that I couldn't fulfill. Perhaps, I just wasn't meant to pursue this dream...heh, to be afraid of performing...how?_" Paulamoni snapped out of it after a while since no one had volunteered.

"Look, I suppose this was a bit sudden so don't bother picking anyone. It's fine." Neko-sensei seemed disappointed. He must have wanted to show off his teachings. Unfortunately, it looked as if Neko-sensei would never get that chance as it was now time for them to leave. As they left, though, Mytho glanced back at the stage to find a heart shard standing upon it. _A heart shard!? _Mytho blinked, rather surprised. However, when he opened his eyes the shard had disappeared. _It's...gone? No, there was definitely one there. But it looks like I'll have to investigate tomorrow. Neko-sensei said that we'd be visiting again tomorrow._

* * *

Despite being able to relax now that practice was over and all the students had gone, Paulamoni wasn't too happy about it as she sat by the fire. Her husband stood beside her as she stared into the bright flames.

"Y'know, I would have liked to see one of those students dance. Actually, one in particular: that girl with the pink hair. She didn't really stand out but, I feel as though I'd seen her dance before and, boy, did she have a dance of her own. But, then again, I don't know how I could have seen her dance before. Still, she looks like someone who would have a spectacular dream, don't you think?"

Paulamoni frowned. "But dreams...have to fade away sometime. There's no stopping it."

Her husband sighed. "You can't play Aurora as you are now, can you?"

"Hm, you're quite blunt, you know that?"

"Yeah...don't you remember? The Aurora that you aspired to play was one who kept dreaming even after the dream ended. But now, you're just afraid of dreaming, aren't you?"

"That's because it's impossible for me to play that Aurora."

"Well, not all dreams come true, but that doesn't mean you can only have one dream. My dream, is to have the whole world captivated by your dancing. That's why I try to think of musical programs that fit you perfectly."

"Really? Dear..."

"Y'know, my love, as well as my dream for you haven't faded at all."

"Paulo...Paulo!" Paulamoni jumped up from where she sat by the fire and into her husband's arms. "Thank you so much!"

The heart shard that had been following Paulamoni had been watching from the bushes nearby. Somewhat disappointed that her new friend, and host, had overcome her fears, the heart shard retreated into the darkness of the night.

* * *

The next day when all the students had come back for a preview performance, Paulamoni performed wonderfully, with no fears at all. Still, that couldn't have stopped the stage lights from going out. Paulo went back stage to find the problem, but it seemed that the only thing wrong was that the troupe leader and electrical engineer, who was conveniently an electric eel, had fallen asleep in his tank. He sighed and called out to Paulamoni and the audience.

"Why don't we take a break too?" Paulamoni nodded and hopped down from the stage.

"Um, excuse me?" Paulamoni tapped on Neko-sensei's shoulder.

"Ah, yes Mrs. Paulamoni?"  
"I was wondering if I could see that girl dance onstage." Pointing towards Ahiru, Neko-sensei nodded.

"Ah, of course. Ahiru?" Ahiru walked over from her seat.

"Yes, Neko-sensei?"

"Mrs. Paulamoni would like to watch you dance. Is there anyone in particular that you would like to be partnered with?"

Ahiru nodded. "Mytho." Neko-sensei seemed surprised by this. Mytho was not the best dancer in the class. In fact, he was far from it. He was only good enough to stay out of the apprentice class. Despite this, Neko-sensei hesitantly nodded.

"W-well, Miss Ahiru, if that's what you want. Mytho?"

"Ah, yes, Neko-sensei?"

"You will be Miss Ahiru's partner for the dance." Mytho was very surprised by this and was about to protest but was quickly pushed back stage and into costume before he could even open his mouth.

Once onstage, Mytho held out his hand to Ahiru, who took it gently. Beginning their dance, Mytho could already see something different in her style. Before, Ahiru was completely graceful and danced perfectly with the exception of her expression. Since she had no heart, she couldn't express any emotion in her dance. But now, although her dance showed _some_ emotion, it was also much less graceful. Her dancing hadn't gotten so bad that the audience would notice, but to the students, or anyone who studied ballet, Ahiru was beginning to look a bit like a duck in her dance.

"I see. Paulo was right about this girl's dance. It's not perfect but it reflects who she is. However, there is still something lacking. Emotion. But still, I see what I've been missing now. I need to make this performance my own." Paulamoni thought out loud.

Their dance over, Mytho and Ahiru bowed to the audience. As Mytho looked up from his bow he noticed the same heart shard from yesterday leaning against the door to the theater. Mytho hopped off stage to run after it but Paulamoni came up to him to congratulate him.

"Good job with your dance. I'm sure you'll get better with time, don't worry."

"Thank you. But, can you please excuse me? I think I need some...air."  
"Uh, sure."  
"Thank you again."

When Mytho ran out the door, the heart shard was leaning against a nearby wall. Mytho made to approach her but she ran away. As he ran after her, Mytho transformed into Prince Siegfried. By the time the heart shard stopped running, she was all the way at the top of a stairwell.

"Please, wait!" Using his flower petals to elevate him, he took a step toward the heart shard. Startled, she opened the door in front of her and continued running. Mytho gave chase until he had her cornered at a dead end.

"Please, return to where you belong."

"No, I don't want to! I-I'm scared."

"Don't be afraid." Mytho took a step toward her. "You have to go back."

"But why!?"

"The reason doesn't matter. That's where you belong."

"Please! I want to know why I have to go!"

"So the princess can have her smile back...I will be the one to do that. And the princess can't have her smile without all her pieces of heart." Mytho held out his hand for her to take but she still coward away from him. "Please!"

Out of fear, she summoned a bladed fan and made to strike him with it but Mytho reacted too quickly and knocked the fan out of her hands with his sword. Then, more out of defeat than consent, the heart shard reverted to her shard form and floated off to return to its owner. Believing that he'd done a good job in getting the shard back to Ahiru, he smiled and hurried back into the theater.

Before he could enter the theater, however, Fakir came running out with Ahiru in his arms, screaming into his uniform jacket with Rue following close behind. As Rue passed him, he heard her grumbling to herself.

"Ugh, that Prince Siegfried...how stupid of him!" With that comment, Mytho understood what was going on. When he returned that heart shard, Ahiru had begun to react that way. It was because of him that she was suffering right now. Worried, Mytho followed them to a bridge. Hiding behind a tree, he watched as Fakir sat down, still holding Ahiru in his arms, while Rue knelt down with a hand on Ahiru's back.

"I-I'm scared! I'm so afraid!" she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Ahiru, what are you afraid of?" Rue asked worriedly. Ahiru couldn't give them an answer through her sobs and only hung onto Fakir tighter.

"Ahiru, it's just us here. There's nothing to be afraid of. Calm down and tell us what's scaring you." Fakir's words of comfort seemed to get through to Ahiru but she couldn't stop herself from shaking and sobbing. Still, though, she managed to gasp out an answer.

"D-D-Drossel...meyer. Drosselmeyer!" Fakir and Rue looked at each other, confused. The only 'Drosselmeyer' they knew, was a writer. But he was dead now. How could she be afraid of someone who was dead and someone she hardly knew. But they knew that that wasn't very important at the moment. What they needed to do was find a way to calm Ahiru down.

Behind the tree, Mytho grew wide eyed. _Drosselmeyer?_ But, Drosselmeyer was the old man who had turned him into a boy, who gave him the power to turn into Prince Siegfried. Why was she afraid of him? When Mytho thought about it, Drosselmeyer did have an air of mystery and was more than a little shady. Still, he couldn't help but feel very guilty as he walked toward the dorms.

"Oh? Well, that's quite different. Before, the prince was afraid of the princess! But now, the princess is afraid of...well, me! Unfortunately, for the princess, there's only one person who really knows who she's afraid of! I wonder what direction this story is taking? Heheheheheh....."

_to be continued......_

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Wow_! _Two chapters in one day. It's all written out already anyway so I guess it's not that surprising. Please tell me what you think!_  
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	8. Act eight: The witch's appearance

Well, thanks for waiting everyone! The story will begin to change around here, however, that's all I can say before it starts becoming a spoiler alert. :P So, uh, enjoy!

I do not own Princess Tutu!

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of Repetition

Act 8: The Witch's appearance

_Once upon a time, there lived a child. To the child, the world was full of mysterious things. "What for?", "Why", "How?". Whenever one puzzle was solved, two more appeared. Whenever two puzzles were solved, four more appeared. Whenever four puzzles were solved, countless more...Before he knew it, the child was swallowed up by the puzzles._

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* * *

  
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Even after about a week, Mytho was still feeling guilty about Ahiru. It definitely didn't help that Ahiru had been gone for that week as well, Rue, too. Fakir still went to school as if nothing happened, but Mytho knew for sure that it was just an act. Many people, though, were wondering and gossiping about the sudden disappearance of the two girls.

After class, Mytho, once again, over heard the two gossiping airheads talking about a special bridge called the Bridge of Riddles. Apparently, if you go to that bridge and ask a question, a voice will ask 'why' or 'how' until you manage to sort out your feelings and problems. But the catch was that if you couldn't find an answer, you'd be sucked into the river below. Mytho decided to check it out, what was there to lose?

Once he got to the bridge, he found that someone was already there. It was a girl with short black hair and red eyes and was wearing the academy uniform. Mytho recalled that during the week of Ahiru's absence, a new girl had enrolled in the ballet division. Mytho also remembered when Neko-sensei had introduced her to the class. She seemed quiet and reserved, but when she showed the class her skills in dance, she was wonderful and her emotions spoke loud and clear. Her dance held fleeting moments of happiness and hope but much of the dance seemed dark and despairing. Although it was beautiful, it may have scared a few of the students.

"Ah, you're Rhiamon, am I right?"

Rhiamon was slightly startled by his sudden appearance. "Oh, uh, yes. But you can call me Rhia...." As she trailed off, she looked as if she was examining Mytho from her spot on the bridge. _Hmm, there's something about this guy. I don't know why but I feel like I'm supposed to...hate him. But I've never seen him before..._

"Okay, Rhia. Are you here for the Bridge of Riddles?"

"Hm? Yes, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I was just about to leave. Good bye." As she left, Mytho smiled at her.

"I see. Well I'm sure you'll find an answer to your questions. Oh, and welcome to Kinkan Academy."  
Rhia seemed shocked by his warm greeting, but was able to flash him a shy smile. With that, she walked away. Once she was out of view, Mytho walked onto the bridge.

"So far, I've really only caused Ahiru pain. Rue doesn't want her to regain her heart and I have a feeling that Fakir knows about her situation as well...but he doesn't seem to mind her not having a heart. Not only that, but when Ahiru regained her feeling of fear, she said that she was afraid of Drosselmeyer. I'm starting to think that he's tricked me into giving Ahiru her heart back just so that she can feel pain...no one else seems to want Ahiru to have her heart back so maybe...I was just jumping to conclusions..." Mytho removed his ring and held his hand over the railing of the bridge.

"No! What is he doing!? What is with all my characters wanting to give up like this! I want to see how this story turns out! I want to see the tragedy! Now I must go out to the real world _again_. I do say-"

"No..." Mytho muttered. Drosselmeyer turned back to look at the gear he'd been watching. Mytho was slipping the ring back on his finger.

"Oh? It seems this problem has been avoided. How delightful!"

"I know. There are many negative emotions, but at the same time, there are many positive ones too. Whether or not Rue and Fakir want Ahiru to have a heart, whether or not Drosselmeyer had tricked me into hurting Ahiru, I will get her heart back. I know it. The end _will_ justify the means. I will bring back her smile!" Once he slipped his ring back on, it began to glow. "Ah, a heart shard. But where?" Mytho looked around and decided to take a look around the area.

* * *

Ahiru was dreaming about so many things all at once. All of them seemed to be things that she was afraid of, more things from her memory. When Ahiru woke up, panting, Rue was there to comfort her. She looked around. She had forgotten that Rue had taken her to an old storehouse. It was unused and Rue had prepared a mattress for Ahiru to sleep on.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I had a nightmare. But it seemed more like I was remembering things. First, I remembered that I was in a cave surrounded by these raven-like people and Fakir was fighting on the surface of a lake that was there but then he...I thought that he died and I was so scared...and then, I remembered another time when I was dancing in front of a tree, but the tree was actually Fakir...or, I think he got swallowed up by the tree and I was trying to get him out. I thought that he would never get out...and then there was a part where I was thinking to myself and I was afraid of turning into a duck...!"

Rue sighed. "Look, what did I say, Ahiru-"

"But after all those memories ended, I was in somewhere really dark and then Drosselmeyer, he was looking at a gear, laughing and I saw everyone suffering! And then I disappeared in a flash of light and I wasn't able to do anything!"

Rue hugged Ahiru. "Look, it was just a dream. Just like those memories. Remember, you're the princess from the story. You never knew any of us until I found you and you were already heartless. Those memories can't be real so just forget them. If you stay here long enough, shut away from anything that might make you remember, you'll eventually forget again...I'm sure." Ahiru nodded as tears formed in her eyes.

* * *

Later that day, when the sun was beginning to set, Ahiru heard a knock on the door of the storehouse. Opening it, she looked around. "Rue? Fakir? Prince Siegfried?" Ahiru walked out of the storehouse and to a railing nearby that overlooked a river. "Siegfried?"

"Who's Siegfried?" A voice asked. Looking down, a face appeared in the water and Ahiru tensed, afraid.

"What kind of person is he?"

"I don't really know."

"How strange. You don't know?"

"...well, I don't have a heart..."

"You have no heart?"

"Yes."

"Is it bad that you don't have a heart?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, you're a very interesting person. Will you come with me to somewhere secret?"

"Somewhere secret?"

"Yes, I want to know more about you." A whirlpool formed where the face had been. Ahiru nodded and jumped down, for some reason flapping her arms as if she had wings to help her flutter down. As Ahiru was being sucked into the river, Mytho came back to the bridge after searching in vain for the heart shard. He managed to catch a glimpse of her as she disappeared into the river and quickly dived in after her.

Ahiru was sinking deeper and deeper, encased in a bubble, all the while being asked questions. Inside the bubble, a heart shard formed and Mytho's ring glowed accordingly. _That must be...._ Mytho thought, turning into Prince Siegfried. Ahiru stopped sinking, it seemed she had hit the bottom.

"Prince Siegfried."

"Siegfried?" The heart shard disappeared for the time being. As Mytho landed at the bottom, the dark depths of the river turned into an underwater stage. As Mytho came closer to her, she backed away.

"Please, don't be afraid. Come, would you like to dan-" Mytho was cut off by the heart shard's voice.

"So you're Prince Siegfried. Did you know? This girl doesn't have a heart!"

"Yes, I know."

"So what do you think? Is it good or bad that she doesn't have a heart?"

"What do I think?" Mytho looked down at his feet. He was still a bit guilty about the pain that he had caused Ahiru. He never thought of the hardship that she would have to go through if he decided to give back her heart. However, in his heart, his resolve was as strong as ever. "I think that the Princess deserves...no...she needs a heart! I truly feel horrible about causing her pain. The feelings of sadness, loneliness, frustration...and fear; they are emotions that can make you feel horrible. However, there are emotions such as happiness and love that make going through such emotions worth while. I never meant to make the Princess suffer, but I really would like to see her smile again. That is something that she will never be able to do without a heart." Ahiru smiled slightly as she now understood why Mytho, or rather, Prince Siegfried was returning her heart to her. She approached him and took his hand in hers, making him look up in shock.

"Princess...."

"I understand now. Thank you very much, Prince. Let's go back now."

Mytho nodded and a geyser propelled them towards the surface. Back at the bottom, Ahiru's heart shard called up to her.

"Amazing...so, he's returning your heart to you..."

Once at the surface, the two jumped to safe ground. Mytho let go of Ahiru's hand and bowed.

"Princess, I must ask you. Even though you understand now, if you do not want me to return your heart, please say so and I will promise to leave you alone." Ahiru became shocked and shook her head.

"Please, I don't want you to go...I'll feel sad if you just disappear, I just know it."

"But I brought you pain. Fear..."

"That's okay. I think...there's a light in me that would go out if you were to disappear. Every time I think about you, the light is there. I believe that that light means that I want you to return my heart. So please, return this heart shard to me?"

The heart shard appeared beside Ahiru. "Ah, I see now. I guess I belong here, with you." Mytho nodded with a smile and cupped his hands out in front of him so that the shard could revert to its shard form.

* * *

Rhia had been out quite late that day. Something led her to search for a certain book. It turned out that she was searching for a book of legends and myths and didn't find it until the sun had almost set. Now, she was on her way back to the dorms. Being new to Kinkan town, though, she got lost and ended up by the bridge of riddles where she witnessed Ahiru's heart shard turn into a shard in Mytho's hands.

His Princely attire, the sword at his waist that had a hilt that looked like it was made of two white birds and then the crown upon his head...it all seemed to trigger something in Rhia. She went into a trance-like state and unknowingly transformed into a witch.

Before Mytho could give back another piece of Ahiru's heart, a raven swooped down, snatching the shard away from him as it returned to its owner. Mytho gasped and made to give chase, but it seemed that it wasn't necessary. The raven dropped the shard and then flew away. The shard came into the possession of a girl in a witch outfit who was floating in the sky on a broomstick. Examining the shard she slowly descended on her broom.

"Who are you?" asked Mytho.

She looked away from the shard as she got off her broom. Just in case these were people that she might encounter in town, Rhia tried to think of an alias to use. She settled on 'Kraehe', more as a joke than in actual seriousness. She found that that name was shameful for some reason. "Kraehe."

"Kraehe...?"

As if losing interest in the current situation, Rhia once again began examining the heart shard. "What is this I wonder? It's quite shiny...interesting..*"

"Give that back!"

Rhia snorted. "No. I refuse to give _you_ anything."

Mytho began to draw his sword. Noticing this, Rhia created a harsh wind and blew it in his direction.

"I'm afraid I'll have to go now! I'll be taking this girl with me as well. She might come in handy." Laughing, she disappeared, Ahiru along with her. Once the witch was gone, so too, did the winds fade. Mytho looked around frantically.

"Ahiru!? Ahiru!?" No one was there.

* * *

Rue had come back to the storehouse bringing food for Ahiru. However, when she opened the door, she dropped the tray of food and ran outside. She scanned the area for any sign of Ahiru. Nothing. But not too far from the bridge nearby, Rue found a black feather lying on the ground. It was a raven's feather. She picked it up, but as soon as it was in her hands she let go, as if it had bit her. Wide-eyed, Rue gasped.

"I-I...what in the world happened!? How could I forget? Why has the story begun to repeat itself like this?" Rue gasped once more, remembering another thing. "Mytho! I have to find the Prince!" Rue got up and ran towards the dorms as fast as her legs could take her.

Meanwhile, Drosselmeyer watched the story unfold from his place within the gears of the story. "Oh my, finally, this story has begun to take it's own course! Heheheeh. The appearance of a new villain, the disappearance of the poor princess, the confusion of the prince and oh? It seems one of the characters has awoke from her slumber! What will happen!" Drosselmeyer laughed in delight.

Little Uzura could hear Drosselmeyer's chuckles from way down below at the very bottom of the story's gears. She had been trying to find a way to get into the story to find Ahiru or maybe even Fakir. But it seemed that there was no way out of the dark place. Just when Uzura was thinking of giving up, she found a grandfather clock. Banging her drum in awe, Uzura examined it and found that the front was able to open up.

"Ooooh! I wonder where this leads-zura! Maybe I should go and see-zura." Walking into the grandfather clock, which actually was a loophole in time, something that Drosselmeyer had used before, she appeared inside a cramped, dark space. Pushing on the wall in front of her with all her might, she was able to open it up. Stepping out, she realized that she appeared in another grandfather clock. The only difference was that this one was located inside one of the halls of the dormitory. Despite using the loophole in time, time hadn't stopped within Kinkan town since Uzura wasn't dead and had in fact been one of the characters that belonged in this world.

"Oooh! I'm at the place where the students sleep-zura! That means Fakir must be here-zura! I should go find him-zura." With that, Uzura made her way through the dormitory, banging her drum, unaware that by now, everyone was asleep already.

_to be continued......._

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Arg! Three chapters in one day. -.- I feel like a have no life. Well, that's what happens when I'm on March Break. Well, the story is finding its own path at last, eh? Hope you enjoyed!

* Rhiamon is actually a...well, um, I lost my book of baby names so I don't exactly know where the name originated from, but I know that in that language, it means 'Witch'. ;) Oh, and as for when she was examining the shard, she says 'Shiny'. Well, she's a raven, and if my horribly lazy research is correct, sometimes Ravens take an interest in bright or shiny objects, either to impress others or because of their similarity to eggs. So...uh...yeah?


	9. Act nine: Awakening

F-four...f-four thousand words!? -.- I need to learn to lighten up a little, eh?

I do not own Princess Tutu!

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Princess Tutu: Chapter of the raven

_Once upon a time, there was a town that had been cursed. Everyone who lived in the town was fated to sleep for all of eternity and either dream, or sleep through nightmares. Among those of the town that had been cursed, was the witch who placed the curse in effect herself. She decided that it was for the best for everyone to just dream. Their lives would be much easier, hers included. But those who had nightmares, woke up to escape their horrible dreams, the witch included. When they woke up, however, they found that world outside their nightmares brought more hardships and fears than the world they left behind._

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Fakir found himself woken up late that night due to a loud drumming noise in the halls of the boys' dormitory. Rubbing his eyes, Fakir got up from his bed, grumbling. Who in the world would be banging drums this late at night? Opening his door angrily, Fakir looked down the hall. A little girl with aqua colored hair was marching in his direction. When the little girl caught sight of him, she stopped her drumming and ran excitedly towards Fakir.

"Fakir! Remember me-zura?" Fakir glared at the little girl in confusion.

"No, I don't know you and why in the world are you banging your dru-aaarg!" Fakir fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands. So many forgotten memories were flooding back into his head all at once. So many that it was overwhelming. All his memories came back to him in a flash and Fakir found that he could stand now. "Uzura...where in the world have you been!?" Fakir yelled in a whisper so as not to wake anyone else up.

"I've been with Drosselmeyer-zura! We were walking from story to story-zura! Ooooh! And a new story started so I came to find you and Ahiru-zura!" At the mention of Ahiru's name, Fakir jumped.

"That's right! Ahiru...she's been gone for about a week! Rue probably took her somewhere. But judging by the way this story is headed, I think it's best if I find her before she gets hurt."

* * *

Rue knew by the time that she had gotten to the dorms that no one would be awake by now and there was no way she could just barge into the boys' dorms. Also, she couldn't go throwing rocks at Mytho's window because Rue never payed attention to what room he was in during the new story. So, with no other options, Rue decided to go to her room at the girls' dorm and get up early to look for him.

The next morning, Rue had gotten up early, just as she had planned and searched the whole dormitory grounds for Mytho, but with no success. On her way back to her room, however, she saw Fakir at the front gates talking to a little aqua haired girl. Rue remembered that Fakir had called her Uzura. If he was paying any attention at all to that girl, then Rue knew that he must have remembered something.

"Fakir!" Rue called, running up to him.

Fakir turned around. "Rue, I don't suppose you've remembered anything, have you?"

"Everything, actually. Now, do you know where Mytho is?" Then, Rue narrowed her eyes accusingly at Fakir. "And what has happened to the story? Do you have anything to do with this?"

Fakir countered with a glare of his own. "Of course not! If this story was my doing, do you think I would have sealed away everyone's memories, including my own!? On top of that, I definitely wouldn't have written it so that Ahiru would lose her heart!"

Rue sneered at him. "Well, your stories don't work out exactly like you write them, right?"

"You-" Fakir was about to insult her when a new voice entered the argument. Mytho approached them.

"Rue! What have you done with Ahiru? If you don't have her then..." If Rue didn't have her hidden anywhere, then Mytho's fear would have been realized. It would mean that Ahiru had been kidnapped by that witch, Kraehe. Mytho got an answer that he wasn't expecting, though. Rue hugged him.

"Oh, my Prince, please, tell me you've remembered?" Mytho was shocked.

"Remembered...?" Rue stared up at him. She thought she could feel tears welling up in her eyes but she rubbed them away with the back of her hand. Mytho hadn't remembered yet.

"Rue, I was actually meaning to ask you that question as well. Where is Ahiru?" Rue let go of Mytho and turned back to Fakir.

"I don't know. I originally brought her to a storehouse by the bridge of riddles, but when I brought her dinner last night, she wasn't there. I went off to search for her, but I found a raven's feather instead...after that, all my memories came back."

"What happened to her...?" Fakir realized something. In the story, Ahiru had been the one to turn into Princess Tutu. So far, this story just seemed to be a retelling, with everyone's roles reversed. That meant..."Mytho! Last night, what happened to Ahiru?" Mytho panicked. Did they figure out that he was Prince Siegfried?

Fakir sighed. "Mytho, I know you're Prince Siegfried. Tell us what happened. We're not the enemy here." Mytho seemed hesitant, and was quite confused by what was happening, but understood that what was important at the moment was finding Ahiru. Besides, Mytho found it quite easy, suddenly, to trust them.

"I was returning one of Ahiru's heart shards, but then a woman who looked like a witch appeared and kidnapped Ahiru and her heart shard. She said her name was Kraehe."

"Kraehe!? But I know for a fact that I haven't done anything." Rue said in defence. Fakir nodded.

"I know that. I also think I know who kidnapped Ahiru. Before this story started, me and Ahiru found her at the top of the clock tower. She had fixed the story machine that I destroyed and it started a story almost as soon as we got there." Fakir paused, thinking. "She never told us her name and I doubt it's truly Kraehe. In any case, we need to get Mytho's memory back and rescue Ahiru as soon as possible."

"But how?"

"Well, you and Mytho should go find the Prince and the Raven. Maybe that will jog his memory. As for me, I need to visit a...friend."

* * *

Rhiamon woke up in her room with a huge yawn. Getting up, a little black box on her bedside table caught her eye. It was glowing. She opened it, curious, and found a glowing red glass shard.

"Who are you?" a voice asked. The shard disappeared, and then reformed in front of her as a person. She dropped the box, startled and backed away.

"Wh-who are _you_!?" she asked.

"I'm a heart shard. I am the feeling of curiosity. So who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

"I'm...Rhiamon...did you say _I_ brought you here?"

"Yeah! So why did you bring me here? Do you have a special power like that Prince Siegfried?"

"I-I..." Rhia felt like her head was throbbing. "I don't know what you're talking about! Stop asking these questions."

"But I want to know! Why won't you answer? Is something wrong?"

"Go away!" Startled, the heart shard returned to its shard form inside the black box. Rhia shut it and threw it under her bed. Wanting to be as far as possible from that thing, Rhia grabbed the book of legends and myths that she had bought and ran to the library to read in peace.

She sat at one of the reading tables and opened the book to the table of contents. There were many interesting legends, in fact, some of them she already knew about. One of the chapters was about the riddle bridge and its origin. Another was about a ghostly maiden that took people with her to the world of the dead. Another was about a society known in the book as 'The book watchers'. But one chapter in particular caught Rhia's eye for some reason. It was titled, 'The Monster Raven' .

Rhia flipped the pages until the book was open to that chapter. It talked about what a monster raven was, and it's many appearances in legends or stories. But there was a section at the end of the chapter that was labeled, 'Resurrection.'

"The Monster Raven has always been described as a huge raven and was usually portrayed as the embodiment of evil. Despite this, the raven could indeed be killed. However, there have been legends about evil sorcerers that had heard about the raven's power, and wished to resurrect the Monster Raven for their own agenda. Whether or not the resurrection was successful is open for discussion. Likewise, the actual existence of a Monster Raven can be debated as well. However, even though we cannot be sure whether the resurrection worked or not, we have proof that there _were_ people who did attempt to resurrect this evil creature. Below is a list of things that were found at a campsite in a forest as well as a page torn from a book that explained the method..." Before Rhia could read on, she heard a dark laughter inside her head. She gasped and shut the book.

"What's happening to me? First, I wake up to find this-this...weird glass thing that talks and now I'm hearing voices in my head!?" Rhia calmed herself and took a deep breath. "Now that I think about it, this all started last night. But I have no idea what happened last night. I was walking to the dorms...then I saw this pink-haired girl and some sort of prince. After that, it's all a blur." Rhia shook her head. "Maybe I just need some rest." Rhia got up and headed towards her dorm. But as she passed one of the bookshelves, a book fell and bounced off her head and fell to the ground.

"Ow!" she said, rubbing her head. Bending down to pick up the book, she noticed the title. It read, 'The Princess and the Raven'. "The princess and the raven...the princess and the raven. No, shouldn't it be 'The Prince and the Raven?" Then she heard the laughter in her head again, but this time, there was a huge black beak to go with it. "Daddy." she breathed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Rhia looked up from the book. The boy standing in front of her, holding out his hand to her, was the one who had seen her at the bridge of riddles. But instead of recognizing him as Mytho, the ballet student, she only saw him as Prince Siegfried, the one who had murdered her father. "Ugh!" She slapped away his hand and stormed off.

"I remember! I know what I have to do...revenge...revenge." By now, Rhia already had a plan running through her head and wasted no time at all to initiate it.

* * *

Rue had left the library to get some air. There were so many problems to worry about and little that they could do about them at the moment so a refreshing breeze was quite calming. She stood there, content, enjoying the small rush of air that blew around her. Once Rue felt that she had had enough, she turned around to join Mytho in reading, 'The Princess and the Raven' inside the library. It seemed that since Ahiru was the Princess in this story, certain things changed to fit. So, as such, the 'Prince and the Raven' no longer existed, and was instead replaced by 'The _Princess _and the Raven'. Despite this, Rue desperately wanted to believe it would bring back his memory. However, even if it were the right book, she still would have been a bit skeptical that simply reading a book would solve such an issue. It seemed too easy and all of them knew too well that nothing good in Drosselmeyer's stories ever came _easy_.

But, as Rue turned around to face the library doors, a pair of talons swooped down from above and attacked her. Rue whirled around, shouting and flailing her arms in the air at the bird. Luckily, one of her blind punches managed to hit the bird's leg, making it caw angrily at her as it retreated. Rue grumbled as she identified the violent creature to be a raven.

"Hmph, well! If I didn't have raven blood in me, you'd be very sorry you did that, you-" Rue trailed off when she noticed that the raven had dropped something when she hit it. It was a small, rolled up piece of paper that had been tied with a black ribbon. Untying the ribbon, Rue unrolled the paper and found that it was a letter, a letter addressed to her.

"Dear adopted sister Kraehe," Rue read. "I don't believe we've ever met and I'd like to formally introduce myself to you. If you're interested, come to the gazebo behind the dormitory as soon as you get this letter. P.S I think it would be in your best interest to come. The little princess will also be waiting."

Rue crumpled the letter and threw it to the ground. Since they had Ahiru, it was likely that the sender of the letter was the witch that Mytho described. But the identity of the sender was the least of her problems. Rue knew for sure that the invitation was a trap, but they had Ahiru. She weighed her options.

On one hand, she could accept the invitation and attempt to rescue Ahiru. But Rue felt that there was no use in bringing Fakir and Mytho along with her. Mytho currently needed to get his memory back and Fakir gave up the sword long ago. So if Rue decided to go, she would have to go alone. But, on the other hand, she could refuse the invitation and avoid the trap, but that felt like abandoning Ahiru and who knew what could happen to her if she didn't go. In reality, there was really only one choice.

So, with a firm resolve, Rue made her way as fast as she could to the dormitory to meet with her 'sister'.

* * *

Mytho read through the book with increasing interest. The more he read of 'The Princess and the Raven', the more he loved its story and characters. However, the more he read, he also began to realize that something was wrong with it. He had read this story before, he was sure of it, but somehow, it was different; not how it should have been.

Just as Mytho finished the book, Fakir had appeared from around one of the book shelves. "How did it go?"

"Oh Fakir. Well, I really loved the book."

"And your memories?"

Mytho flashed him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I don't remember anything new."

"Hmmm. So it didn't work..." As Fakir stood there, thinking, Mytho felt a presence beside him. He turned to see who it was and found a small aqua-haired girl staring up at him in wonder.

"Oooh! You're the Prince-zura! Where's your Princess-zura?"

"My princess?" Apparently Fakir had heard the question as well and cleared it up for him.

"Sorry, that's Uzura. At the end of the previous story, you chose Rue as your princess." At the mention of her name, Fakir looked around. "Speaking of which, where did she go?"

"Oh, she told me that she wanted to go outside for some fresh air." Mytho paused, considering something. "But, now that I think about it, she's been out for a while. She said that she wouldn't be out long." Fakir crossed his arms, one hand going up to his chin in thought. He remembered his meeting with Autor.

_ Just the sight of Fakir had made Autor remember everything, so all Fakir had to do was give him a summary of what had been happening. He realized, too, that the story was a retelling of sorts, with some characters and events slightly changed._

_"Well, if this story is, indeed, a retelling, then it should be easy to figure out at least where the witch you spoke of will appear next. I'm not quite sure about that girl though."  
_

_"Her name is Ahiru." Fakir corrected him in his use of, 'that girl'. "So what makes you think predicting her next appearance will be so easy?"  
_

_Autor crossed his arms. "I'm surprised that you hadn't thought of this yourself, Fakir."  
_

_Fakir glared at him. "Just spit it out Autor, I don't have time for this."  
_

_Autor sighed, exasperated. "Well, just remember what happened in the previous story after the original Kraehe first appeared."_

Fakir started reviewing the events of the previous story. _After Kraehe's first appearance, she reappeared after Ahiru asked to meet Mytho by the gazebo. That means that that should be where that witch will be. But that event was initiated by Ahiru's letter to Mytho. As far as I know, none of us has received a letter...but there could be a chance that..._

Fakir grabbed Mytho's arm and pulled him towards the dormitory with Uzura quickly following behind. Mytho followed obediently but was still very confused by everything. "Fakir? Fakir!? Where in the world are we going?"

"I know where that witch is. We're going there now."

"But shouldn't we find Rue first and-"

"Rue is probably already there."

* * *

When Rue reached the gazebo, she found Ahiru on the floor. She ran over to see if her friend had been hurt at all but it seemed that she was just knocked out. As Rue grabbed her hand, Ahiru's eyes fluttered open.

"Rue?" As Ahiru sat up, a powerful gust of wind and sharp raven feathers tackled Rue, pushing her into the wall of the gazebo. Ahiru would have been very worried for Rue if only she had all her heart back, but since she still lacked a few emotions, the only thing she could do to try and help was crawl over to her to see if she was okay. But as she came closer, shackles appeared on her ankles, chaining her to the floor of the gazebo.

Rue got up and stood in front of Ahiru, protecting her from harm. "Show yourself!"

Rhia laughed, flying in on her broomstick. Getting off of her mount, she slowly made her way towards the gazebo. She bowed. "Hello, Kraehe. I am Rhiamon, the 'Monster' Raven's true daughter."

"What?"

"By now, you must have figured out that you aren't truly the daughter of a raven, right? Father adopted you, gave you raven's blood only because he thought that you could be useful. While you were under his control, he had me hide behind the scenes. But it seems Father didn't have very good judgement. You were useless. Even worse, you killed him."

"And I don't regret it. Not one bit." This got Rhia fired up. Screaming, she called out her raven minions to attack. As they darted at her, Rue found that she had somehow transformed into Princess Kraehe. Surprised, Rue couldn't help being disappointed in herself. She thought that she had left behind this identity and her raven's blood, but it looked like neither would completely disappear from her life. Despite her disappointment, she also couldn't help but feel grateful that she could still turn into Princess Kraehe, given her current situation.

Pirouetting, a whirlwind of feathers surrounded her, shielding her from the ravens. But once the ravens retreated, their attack was immediately followed up by a strike from Rhia herself. She punched Rue, knocking her to the ground. Brandishing a knife that formed from a raven's feather, Rhia stepped closer, menacingly.

"Y'know, I'm really glad I didn't take on the form of a prima donna, like yourself. I don't have to worry about useless things like elegance, or dancing. I can get straight to the point." Rhia meant to land the finishing blow, but the slashing motion of a sword made her jumped back to a safe distance. Mytho had come to his princess' aid.

"Rue, I'm sorry I had forgotten. Please forgive me."

"Mytho!" Rue gasped. She shook her head. "Of course I forgive you. But how did you know where I was?"

"Fakir knew somehow. His friend Autor must have-" Before Mytho could finish, a raven warrior lunged at him. His quick reflexes allowed him to dodge it and run the raven through with his sword. However, that wasn't the end of them. They were now surrounded by the ravens. The both of them now hand their hands full fighting them off but it seemed that that was all they could do since every time a handful was defeated, more would be summoned. It was endless.

"That should shut you up for a while." Rhia turned her attention towards Ahiru who was still chained to the ground. She began trembling as Rhia knelt in front of her, holding up a black box. Opening it, she brought out the heart shard and held it to her nose. Breathing in, she cast a mocking glance towards the Prince and Princess from the corner of her eye.

"It seems that the Prince isn't the only one with a beautiful heart. In fact, this girl's heart is quite alluring. It smells so sweet and innocent. I wonder how it tastes." Rhia spoke a little louder than necessary, making sure that her sister and the Prince could hear her. "But it's soooo tempting. I don't think I could ever wait for her heart to be restored entirely. I suppose I'll just gouge it out right now." Rhia returned the heart shard to Ahiru and then positioned her knife at Ahiru's chest, grinning to herself.

Mytho and Rue cleared a path through the ravens and made a break towards Ahiru, only to be stopped by yet another wall of ravens. "Ahiru!" Rue called out, pleadingly. This only made Rhia's grin wider. Ahiru, faced with the knife at her chest, unable to move, unable to save herself, began to cry. She was afraid.

Rhia was about to plunge the knife into her heart when the voice of her father rang inside her head. "You stupid excuse for a daughter! How dare you try and take the heart meant for my resurrection as your meal! You ungrateful-" Rhia froze.

"F-father! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to! I didn't know!" Rhia gasped, holding her head. She was so preoccupied with apologizing that she noticed her life was in danger only when Fakir's blade was mid-slash. Although she managed to dodge it, his sword had managed to make contact with her arm. Fakir stood in front of Ahiru, his sword still pointed at Rhia. She looked quite weak and defenseless now as she was on her knees, holding her wound. On top of that, she was crying now. It seemed that her father was still harshly scolding her. Fakir thought this to be the perfect chance to end this new story and ran towards her.

"Fakir! Please, don't!" Ahiru yelled, stopping Fakir in his tracks, making him look back at her in confusion.

"Ahiru w-" Fakir had the breath knocked out of him by Rhia's broomstick. It had zoomed in and crashed right into Fakir's stomach. He laid on the ground coughing and glaring at Rhia as she hopped onto her broomstick and pulled Ahiru up beside her. Even as she was making her exit, she was still apologizing to the voice in her head. Only when her and Ahiru had disappeared from sight, did the raven warriors vanish as well. They all stared off into the sky, despair and disappointment written on their faces. Ahiru was gone, again.

_to be continued..............._

_

* * *

_

Well, I hope you enjoyed! Please comment and review!_  
_


	10. Act ten: Friendship

I do not own Princess Tutu.

* * *

Princess Tutu: Chapter of the Raven

Act 10: Friendship

_Once upon a time, there was a girl who was a raven. Being a raven, she cared not for having friends and neither did any of the other ravens. When this raven girl's father was killed by the humans alongside a little duck, she decided she would have revenge. In her efforts to avenge her father, she ended up needing to kidnap a human girl. Despite her hatred for humans, she somehow befriended this peculiar and innocent girl who had no memory of who she was. A beloved friend. But would this raven girl still think the same of her new found friend if she found out that she was the duck who had helped kill her father?_

* * *

Fakir, Mytho and Rue made their way back to the fountain between the dormitory buildings. Once there, little Uzura greeted them with a bang on her drum. All disappointed in their failure, none of them bothered to remind Uzura that it was nighttime and all the students were asleep. The little girl stared in confusion and then glanced around the yard expectantly and frowned.

"You didn't find Ahiru-zura." Mytho, noticing Fakir's flinch at those words, sighed.

"Fakir, don't blame yourself. None of us were able to stop Ahiru from being kidnapped." Mytho reached out to put a hand on Fakir's shoulder, but instead of calming him, he seemed to tense and his fists tightened into a ball at his sides.

"I could've. I hesitated and got caught off guard! If only, if only I were stronger!" Fakir began to tremble, his self-hatred boiling. "It's all my fault, and now Ahiru is gone again!" A stinging slap to the cheek brought him to his senses. Rubbing the red mark on his face, Fakir yelled, "What was that for!?" Rue lifted her hand to smack him again but Mytho caught it.

"Fakir stop being an idiot! Yes, you are useless as a knight, but you yourself isn't entirely. We may not have saved her from being kidnapped, but you prevented her death! So stop wallowing in your guilt; saving Ahiru isn't a lost cause yet!"

"I never said it was a lost cause!"

"Then stop beating yourself up about it and think of a way to find her!"

"Well-" It seemed Fakir would never have the last word in an argument with Rue as, once again, Mytho intervened.

"Both of you, stop!" Mytho slowly let go of Rue's wrist, watching to make sure she wouldn't slap Fakir again, then continued. "Fakir, Rue is right. We shouldn't be feeling guilty right now. What we should be doing is finding out how to get Ahiru back. Though I doubt that we'll be able to get much done as we are now. We should rest up and meet here tomorrow."

Both Fakir and Rue glared at the ground in surrender. "Fine." , they both said in unison.

As they parted, each going to their room, no one noticed a shadow watching them from the girls' dorm.

"Oh," Drosselmeyer said from his rocking chair within the gears of the story. "Things are getting quite interesting! The story is finally starting to take a new direction!" Now, a new gear appeared before him, revealing the underground lake and the two figures who now occupied the island in the middle. "Oh? How could I forget little Ahiru? I wonder how she's fairing against my newest character."

* * *

Setting Ahiru down on the island, a shackle appeared on her right ankle, chaining her to it. Rhia carelessly let her broom fall to the ground and squatted down by the water, holding her head in her hands. She was still crying and apologizing, and Ahiru couldn't help but wonder why. Crawling over beside her, Ahiru sat down and laid her hand on Rhia's shoulder.

"Why are you crying? Who are you apologizing to?" Rhia flinched away from Ahiru's hand and kept staring into the depths of the lake.

"What do you care!?" She hissed.

"But...I want to know why you're so sad." Rhia didn't answer. "Please, won't you tell me? I want to know." Ahiru insisted. Rhia moved her hands away from her head and instead, used them to hug her knees closer.

"Why do you want to know so badly!? I tried to kill you! You should be afraid of me!"

Ahiru frowned. "I don't know why I want to know. I just want to know. I also don't know why I'm not scared anymore. But I feel like I'd know if I had more of my heart back." Rhia glanced at her from the corner of her eye, still facing the water. _That's right. This girl's heart still isn't complete. But if Daddy wants me to resurrect him, then I have to get back all her pieces of heart._

"So, now will you tell me why you're sad?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to." After that, the two remained in silence for a few moments. But it was very short lived.

"Well, can you at least tell me your name?" This time, Rhia turned her head to face her, confused. _This girl is weird! Why does she want to know my name!? I almost killed her, in fact, I'm going to kill her as soon as she gets her heart back! _Despite these thoughts, Rhia answered her hesitantly.

"M-my name is Rhia." she said slowly.

"Okay, Rhia. My name is Ahiru."

"Hmph, whatever." Still confused, Rhia turned back to the water.

* * *

In the morning, Fakir, Mytho and Rue met by the fountain, as planned. Fakir had told Uzura to stay inside Mytho's room as it would have been complicated to explain to his roommate why there was a little girl in their room, annoyingly banging her drums.

"I've been thinking," Fakir started as they walked towards the academy. "When my memories came back, Uzura told me that her and Drosselmeyer had been traveling from story to story. If Uzura is back, then it's likely that Drosselmeyer is too."

"But even so, what can he do? We destroyed the machine he used to write his stories, remember?" Rue reminded.

"Don't you remember what _I_ said? When this story started, the machine had been repaired by that witch. After class, I think we should go check on it." They all nodded and prepared for class.

* * *

Ahiru had fallen asleep shortly after learning her captor's name. As she slept, more memories came back to her in the form of dreams. This time, she remembered being a beautiful and graceful prima donna named, Princess Tutu. She had been returning a heart shard to a boy from school. She recalled that his name was Mytho. But before the heart shard could be returned, a raven-like woman appeared, and stole it. Her name was Princess Kraehe. Ahiru remembered all the times when she encountered her, but whenever she saw her in her memories, the image of Rue flashed in front of Kraehe. Ahiru had no idea why. Then, the next memory she saw, was of her as Princess Tutu again. She was giving Mytho another heart shard, but once it left her hands, she turned into a duck. After that, she saw herself floating idly on the surface of a lake. She looked sad and brooding as she sighed.

Ahiru woke up to find that Rhia had gone out and was just returning. Standing in front of Ahiru, one hand holding a red shard of glass, the other on her hip, Rhia frowned down at her. "You really can sleep, y'know that? It's already well into the day."

Staring up at her, Ahiru noticed something glowing in the witch's hand. "What's that?"

"It's a piece of your heart. I believe this one is the feeling of anger."

"Are you going to return it to me? Or...do you plan on eating it?" Rhia flinched. She wouldn't dare attempt to eat Ahiru's heart after the scolding she got from her Father.

"No. I'll return this one later." Rhia had recently found out that the heart shards reacted to one another and decided that getting Ahiru's heart back would go much faster if she kept one to guide her.

"Okay." Ahiru said quietly. The silence that followed seemed awkward, unusual. Normally, Rhia would have been perfectly fine, happy even, to have this silence, but something about this girl compelled her to ask, "What's wrong?"

Ahiru stared up at her again briefly, and then down at the ground. "Every time I get a piece of my heart back, I gain an emotion and some memories. But usually, the memories that come back to me are related to the emotion that was returned. This time, none of them really had to do with curiosity. But that's not all, one of the memories that I got back...it scares me. I have this feeling that if I get my heart back, I'll be really sad in the end. I'm scared of what might happen."

Rhia stared at her with pity. She had no idea why she felt sorry for Ahiru, but once again she thought that there was just something about this girl. She had a sort of personality, even when incomplete, and charm that drew her to her, that prevented Rhia from hating her like the other humans. _It could be, _she thought_, partly because she didn't have a big part in killing daddy. The ones who killed him were that sister of mine, her prince, that writer and the duck who was Princess Tutu._

Rhia sat down beside Ahiru and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ahiru, I understand, but I'm much more afraid of what would happen to _me_ if I don't return your heart. I'm sorry, but I'll have to keep returning pieces of your heart whether you like it or not."

Drosselmeyer chuckled. "Oh, that's right! Hidden away from the events of the story, my new character only knows what Princess Tutu and her true form look like. I wonder if her feelings towards little Ahiru would be the same if she knew the truth!"

* * *

Fakir stood in front of the machine that he had destroyed so long ago. Rue and Mytho stood behind him, concerned. The machine really had been rebuilt.

"I think it would be best if I destroyed it. That way we won't have to worry about the story controlling us." They all nodded. As Fakir turned back to the machine, Drosselmeyer had only just turned his attention towards the gear that showed the three of them gathered around his storytelling machine. As Fakir prepared to destroy it, Drosselmeyer realized what it was that he planned to do.

"Oh no, no, no, no! What does he think he's doing!? That will not do at all! He obviously doesn't realize what it is that he's about to do!" Drosselmeyer rushed to the loophole in time and entered kinkan town. "Now, what do you think you are doing?"

Fakir tensed. He had known that it was likely that Drosselmeyer had returned but his presence still managed to shock him. He turned around to face his ancestor, but not before masking his anxiety with contempt. "Drosselmeyer." He uttered with disgust.

"Now, now, is that any way to greet your great great grandfather? But more importantly," started Drosselmeyer. "You weren't thinking of destroying my machine again, were you?"

"Yes I was." Fakir answered, matter-of-factly. "That way, your story won't be able to interfere with our actions."

Drosselmeyer clicked his tongue in disappointment. "My dear boy, you are quite mistaken! If you destroy this machine now, while the story is still developing, still progressing, the story will be left unfinished! It will simply end with no ending!"

"I won't let it. I'll write the rest of the story. I'll write it towards another happy ending."

Drosselmeyer practically cringed at the thought of another disappointing end to a story that held much potential. Shaking it off and chuckling, Drosselmeyer said, "You overestimate your power. Perhaps if this story was of your own writing to begin with then I suppose you could write the ending yourself. But this story isn't yours, in fact, it's not even mine! I do believe that the only way for you to bring this story to your horrible happy ending is if you let this story write itself and use your power to twist it. So what do you say, eh Fakir? Allow this machine to function?"

Fakir glared daggers at Drosselmeyer. Fakir would usually never, under any circumstance, listen to what Drosselmeyer would have to say, but the more Fakir thought back on it, the more it made sense to him. It was true, his powers weren't exactly very reliable. Even when he was writing the happy endings for the people of kinkan, he found that some things didn't turn out exactly the way he wrote them. But no matter how much sense Fakir found in those words, after what happened in the previous story, there was no way that Fakir would trust Drosselmeyer so easily and willingly.

"I still don't understand. You say that if I destroy the machine, the story will just stop, and I won't be able to continue it myself. So why do you care? If I destroy the machine, all of us will fall into despair, unable to move forward. Isn't that what you want, for your story to end in tragedy?"

"Well, of course, but having the story end so abruptly and missing out on all the despair yet to come would be quite boring and disappointing!"

Fakir smirked. "Tch, of course. But it doesn't matter. Either way, we're going to have to disappoint you again Drosselmeyer. This story will have a happy ending, for _all_ of us."

Drosselmeyer, content with having prevented Fakir from destroying the machine, stepped back into the loophole in time. But as the grandfather clock closed up behind him and disappeared, Drosselmeyer's last words sounded only to Fakir as time resumed. "We'll see about that, now won't we?"

As time resumed, Rue seemed impatient as the seconds passed by, uneventful. "Well? Didn't you say that you were going to destroy it?"

"Drosselmeyer appeared, just now. Somehow, he convinced me not to."

Rue stared at him with disbelief. "Fakir, are you stupid!? Did you forget what he did to all of us?"

Mytho laid his hand on Rue's shoulder, stopping her. "Rue, none of us could forget. That is why I trust Fakir's decision. I believe that he would be the last person to ever take Drosselmeyer's advice, and if for some reason he's willing to take it now, then I know that it must be a good reason."

Rue mumbled something under her breath, but neither of the boys in the room payed it any attention.

Just then, Mytho's ring glowed. "A heart shard?" Mytho looked around, searching for a person, an object, that could be holding the piece of heart. A shadow at the door of the room caught Mytho's eye. Having been spotted, the figure jumped and ran down the long, spiraling flight of stairs. "Could it be-?" Mytho was quick to pursue the figure, transforming into Prince Siegfried as he descended the kinkan clock tower stairs.

"Prince!" Rue fell in behind him, doing her best to keep up. Fakir followed soon after. Their pursuit led them to the art building of the academy. Upon entering, the three immediately noticed the mess of papers spread across the floor. On each was an exquisite drawing of Rue. The papers seemed to form a trail, and as their eyes followed it to the middle of the room, the shady figure that they had been chasing was sitting on her knees, crying, with her back facing them.

Mytho approached her and knelt beside her. Taking notice of more drawings of Rue sprawled in front of the girl as well as the name signed at the bottom of each, Mytho commented, "These are very beautiful drawings Miss...Malen?"

Malen nodded with a sniff, "They are, but they're all of Miss Rue. I like using her as a muse for some of my drawings but lately, she's all I've been able to draw. I used to draw so many different things like fruit and scenery. But now..." She shook her head.

Mytho smiled softly at her and stood, offering his hand to help her up. "Malen, would you like to dance for me?"

"Me? But I don't know how to dance."

Hesitantly, remembering that his dance couldn't help people's hearts like Princess Tutu's, Mytho told her, "That's okay. I'll guide you. Just do what your feelings tell you to do." Taking his hand, Malen stood and began to dance. "Miss Malen, I take it that you love to draw many different things, am I right?"

Malen nodded. "Of course. I love having many subjects to choose from."

"Well, if that's how you feel, then I'm sure you can see that this desire to draw only Rue is not yours. Those are the feelings of someone else. You should be able to draw what you want."

Malen smiled as their dance came to an end. "Yes, I understand. Thank you!" As the heart shard left Malen's body, she collapsed. Mytho caught her before she hit the ground and laid her down gently. Turning to the heart shard, he asked, "And what feeling might you be?"

"I am the feeling of devotion."

"I see. Well, I do believe that you should be off to where you belong now." Holding out his hands, the shard reverted to her fragment form. As the shard flew out the door past Fakir and Rue to find it's home, Fakir's eyes widened.

"That's it!" He darted out of the art building. Mytho and Rue exchanged glances and followed. They found him outside the building searching the sky.

"What are you looking for Fakir?" Mytho inquired.

"The heart shard. I thought maybe we could follow it to Ahiru. But I lost sight of it when I got outside." Fakir cursed under his breath.

"Ahiru still has more heart shards scattered about, I'm sure. If we find another one, we'll definitely find Ahiru." said Rue.

"That maybe true, but I suppose you weren't expecting someone else to be after the rest as well, were you? You'd better be quick to find another heart shard, lest there be no more to lead the way!" Drosselmeyer said in his rocking chair.

* * *

Rhia had come back from her search for Ahiru's heart shards. Her search had been successful as she returned with a heart shard in hand. This one had been much easier to retrieve than Anger. The heart shard had reacted to a girl who was wandering the town anxiously. When Rhia appeared before her, she could tell that this girl was very strange. She was unsure whether she should be afraid of the witch before her and why she should be. Rhia could only stand there and watch as the girl started rambling to herself. She was going on about how she couldn't find her way home because something told her that she should go one way, but then something else told her to go in the opposite direction. This was odd to the girl because she said that she used to know Kinkan town like the back of her hand. Then, she changed subjects and rambled on about school and how her grades were going down because everything she learned was suddenly confusing to her which was also odd because she was a very smart girl and used to always get good grades. Changing subjects _again_, she even started getting confused about why and what she was rambling on about! By now, Rhia was getting tired of listening and conjured a raven's feather and shot it at the girl's heart. The girl let out a strangled cry and closed her eyes, falling to the ground. The heart shard had left her hostess and submitted to Rhia. She guessed that this one was probably the feeling of confusion.

Finally back at the underground lake, she arrived just as Ahiru was waking up from a nap. As she approached her, Ahiru put a hand to her heart. "Rhia, another piece of my heart was returned while you were gone. Did you return it?"

Rhia raised an eyebrow. "No, the one I retrieved is still with me." She held her hand out to show her the shard.

"Oh, I see." Ahiru paused and then continued. "I got back some of my memories again, too."

Rhia sighed. "Ahiru, what makes you think I want to hear about your memories?"

Ahiru stayed silent for a few moments, as if thinking. "Well, I guess I thought since we're friends-"

"What?" Rhia said, startled. _Friends_. "Since when are we friends?"

"Well, I thought since you comforted me when I was sad and are returning heart shards to me..."

"Look, I was returning the favor of you comforting me. But how does returning your heart make me your friend? I thought you said that you were afraid of getting your heart back?"

"Well, yes, I did say that but I suppose at the same time I want to get my heart back. I feel like I'm incomplete without my heart and memories. I guess it overwhelms my feeling of fear. But I'm still scared..."

Rhia stared at her in silence. This girl really was something. She actually wanted to go down a path that frightened her. Rhia had to admit that that was quite brave of her. Not many people had the courage to head down paths that were dark and uncertain. In this silence, Rhia's thoughts also went back to the idea of being friends. She'd never really had a friend before. Rhia was sure that if it was anyone other than Ahiru, she would have outright refused it.

"Okay, why don't you tell me about your memories next time. Right now, I have to return this." Holding out the heart shard once more, Ahiru nodded. As it returned, piecing itself together with the others, she found herself drifting off into sleep once again.

Drosselmeyer chuckled. "Poor Ahiru! If you reveal your thoughts on your memories to come, you're only going to end up losing a friend! You may even end up making my tragic ending inevitable! Oh little Ahiru, you always were my most promising character! Heheeheh."

_to be continued...._


End file.
